HAMPSHIRE HEALTH REPORT – Message in a bottle!

In Southampton General Hospital, Dr Nick Sheron cares for 25 patients - and 95 per cent of them have alcohol-related liver disease.

"Last week I had a 26-year-old in with liver disease - he had been drinking since he was 14."

He adds: "From a public health point of view this is a real issue. In the last ten years people are developing liver disease at a younger age. Alcoholic cirrhosis at 30 is not uncommon and I have treated patients in their late 20s with end stage liver disease."

Recent figures suggest people in the UK are now drinking on average 50 per cent more than they did ten years ago, leading to huge increases in alcohol-related diseases.

One of the most frightening statistics shows how deaths from alcohol in the UK have doubled in a little over twelve years.

In 1994 some 4,000 people met their death as a direct result of excessive drinking.

By 2004 that number had leapt to more than 8,000.

And in Southampton, the latest available Department of Health figures reveal a fifth of people admit binge-drinking.

Dr Sheron believes the increase is partly due to the introduction of alcopops a decade ago, along with heavy advertising campaigns: "You don't need to be addicted to alcohol to get alcohol-related disease, and many sufferers are simply heavy social drinkers."

Dr Sheron believes binge drinking is also responsible for the rise in sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies as many people presenting for treatment are citing this as the reason for their predicament.

More worrying though is the suggestion that increased alcohol consumption is also to blame for rising numbers or rape and sexual assaults.

Dr Sheron said: "In a local study we found five per cent of men had forced someone else into a sex act they were not happy with - 44 per cent of these men had been drinking beforehand.

"Of those who had sexually assaulted someone, 66.7 per cent said alcohol was responsible. It seems people feel if you get drunk you are no longer responsible for your actions when clearly this is not the case."

But as well as individuals, local communities also suffer in different ways because of alcohol.

For example 12 per cent of patients admitted to A&E at Southampton General Hospital - roughly 23,000 people - have excessive levels of alcohol, costing the service more than £830,000 a year.

Furthermore nearly half of all regular' A&E patients, patients admitted more than six times a year, have alcohol related problems.

As well as the cost though there is also the impact on staff of treating drunken patients, many of who are abusive, difficult to control and often refuse treatment all together tying up time and staffing numbers.

Dr Sheron said: "The message we want to get across to people is what are you like when drunk'? If you do become nasty then don't get so drunk, because alcohol is not an excuse.

"People have to realise alcohol can be dangerous - both to themselves, their friends and family, the community they live in and society in general. It must be drunk in moderation."

The latest Department of Health figures reveal 14.8 per cent admit binge-drinking in Winchester and 21.8 per cent admitting it in Southampton.

However as much as these social problems are affecting the health of people and communities, those communities are fighting back. In Southampton, Operation Refrigerator has been set up by the police to tackle one aspect of alcohol-related problems - underage drinking.

The aim of Operation Refrigerator is simply to crack down on the kind of loutish behaviour that can make resident's lives a misery - shouting, swearing, violence and petty vandalism all fuelled by booze.

Officers now patrol the streets of charged specifically with removing alcohol from underage drinkers. Their evening haul often includes everything from alcopops to super-strength lager.

Police then often take the youngsters home, telling their parents about the nuisance they have been causing and appealing for help in keeping them off the streets.