Further information on Alcohol in Southwark

The drinking habits of people living in Southwark are not fully known. There is no information available that summarises the average weekly number of units of alcohol consumed in Southwark, nor the percentage of adults who regularly ‘binge’ drink. 

What is known is the number of people who require hospital treatment for health conditions related to alcohol and it is possible to estimate the number of months that alcohol reduces people’s life by. 

In 2004/05 there were about 800 admissions to hospital for alcohol-specific diseases (such as cirrhosis of the liver). Three-quarters of these admissions were men. Compared nationally, the directly standardised hospital admission rates for alcohol-specific admissions for men are significantly higher than for England, at nearly double the national rate. Alcohol-specific admissions for women resident in Southwark, almost much lower than for men, are significantly higher than the rate for London as a whole.

Directly Standardised Admissions Rates for alcohol-specific hospital admissions, all ages, 2004/05

Source: North West Public Health Observatory, Local alcohol profiles for England, 2006

On average, males residing in Southwark lose 11.5 months of their life due to alcohol and for females 5.5 months are lost. For both males and females this is greater than the national average of months lost due to alcohol (9.6 months and 5.1 months respectively) and also greater than the London average (9.8 months and 4.7 months).