JON WELCH The number of people admitted to hospital due to alcohol-related conditions has risen significantly in the past five years, according to new figures.

JON WELCH

The number of people admitted to hospital due to alcohol-related conditions has risen significantly in the past five years, according to new figures.

But the east of England had the country's best performer with one Norfolk district among the 10 with the lowest admission rate for women.

Data from the NHS's Hospital Episodes Survey shows that the number of men admitted to hospital across the country has risen from 714 per 100,000 in 2001-02 to 909 per 100,000 in 2005-06, an increase of 27.3pc.

For women, those figures have gone from 396 per 100,000 up to 510 per 100,000, a rise of 28.9pc.

It means that around 353,000 people across England were admitted to hospital in 2005-06, according to the Observer, which first published the data.

The figures relate to the numbers of people admitted to hospital as a direct result of alcohol, for example through short-term problems such as suffering an accident, being a victim of an assault, or longer term conditions such as cirrhosis of the liver.

The north east has the highest number of hospital admissions per 100,000 of the population, with 1,232 men per 100,000 and 689 women.

In the east of England, the rate was 743 men and 425 women per 100,000, with Broadland achieving the country's ninth-lowest ad-mission rate for women at 340 per 100,000.