THERE are 80 alcohol-related deaths each year in Herefordshire, with those from the most deprived quarter of the population twice as likely to die from alcohol.

This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week runs from November 16 to 22 with a theme of the impact of alcohol on health and society.

Alcohol problems are considered to be the third biggest risk factor for illness and death in England.

In a 2014 report published by Herefordshire Council, it said there have been, on average, around 80 alcohol-related deaths per year in the county in the five years 2009 to 2013, with around 60 percent male.

But there has been a decrease of around 16 percent in alcohol-related hospital admissions of Herefordshire people to all providers in England.

In 2010/11 it was 1,112. In 2013/14 it had dropped to 990- 40 percent were aged between 45 and 64 and 36 percent were 65+.

Admissions among young people aged less than 25 years declined from almost nine percent in 2009/10 to less than six percent in 2013/14.

A person living in the most deprived quartile of the county is more than three times as likely to be admitted to hospital due to alcohol consumption, as someone resident in the least deprived quartile, and almost twice as likely to die an alcohol related death.

The top three highest admission rates, relative to the county-wide figures, were found in the central ward of Hereford city, Leominster South and Ross-on-Wye West.

The 2009 set of Local Alcohol Profiles for England estimate that more than 25 percent of the county’s drinking population indulge in increasing or higher risk drinking (above 22 units per week for males and above 15 units per week for females), and 20 percent of all adults binge drink (consuming at least twice the daily recommended amount of alcohol in a single drinking session).

Neither are significantly different from the national picture.

The average number of years of life lost per alcohol-related death among males is 9.6 years compared to 5.9 years among females.