Speeches

Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of alcohol misuse in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

Figures of the cost to the National Health Service of alcohol misuse for each of the past five years is not available. The most recent estimate from 2014 is that alcohol costs the NHS around £3.5 billion per annum(1), just under half of which is due to alcohol related inpatient admissions to hospital.

(1)Source: “Alcohol and drugs prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest?”, Public Health England, http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/why-invest-2014-alcohol-and-drugs.pdf