Wolverhampton liver disease death rate among highest in UK

The illness been described as a "very serious issue" by medical experts at the city's New Cross Hospital, who said patients suffering with the illness were being monitored.

Alcoholic liver disease was said to be a "significant issue" in the Asian population, "including men and increasingly young females".

Health chiefs are now examining why the illness is such a problem in Wolverhampton and what can be done to try and tackle the problem. It's been suggested the city's large Punjabi population could be a factor.

It comes after new figures revealed last month the number of people going to hospital with alcohol-related conditions has risen by 20 per cent across the Black Country and Staffordshire since 2013.

Minimum alcohol pricing was introduced in Wales this week and there have been calls for England to follow suit.

There were more than 4,600 deaths caused by alcoholic liver disease in the UK last year. There were 18 deaths relating to alcohol per 100,000 people in the West Midlands, figures from NHS Digital showed.

The liver disease statistics were discussed at a recent board meeting of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which runs New Cross.

'Very serious'

The discussion was recorded in the minutes of the meeting, which said: "(Medical director Jonathan Odum) said Wolverhampton had one of the highest death rates in the country for alcoholic liver disease and work was under way to analyse the figures in more detail.

"Dr (Danielle) Oum said this was a very serious issue and the gastrology/hepatology service at the trust provided an in-house service for reviewing all these patients and ensuring they were managed by specialists experienced in this area.

"Dr Oum said it had been identified that there was a significant issue in the Asian population including men and increasingly young females.

"Sultan Mahmud said it was well known in the Indian sub-continent communities that within the Punjabi population that there were greater incidents of alcohol related liver disease problems and in Wolverhampton there was a large Punjabi population."

NHS England figures released in February showed thousands more people needed treatment due to the effects of alcohol in 2018/19 compared with six years earlier.

Staffordshire saw a large increase in cases, rising by almost half - 47 per cent - from 16,230 to 23,810.

There was a 22 per cent rise in both Wolverhampton and Walsall. In Wolverhampton cases rose from 5,510 to 6,720, while in Walsall the total climbed from 5,390 to 6,550.