More than 160 Lancashire children under 16 have been hospitalised through booze in a year, it emerged today.
And fears are growing that more than 3,500 people in the county are drinking themselves into an early grave after ending up in A&E following a session on the bottle.
At Royal Preston and Chorley and South Ribble Hospitals alone, 46 under-16s and 28 16-17-year-olds were taken to hospital because of drink in a 12 month period, according to new figures.
A further 51 under-16s were admitted by Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde Hospitals NHS Trust and another 69 at Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals.
Some 3,500 over-18s were hospitalised because of drink in the three areas. Worryingly, experts in Lancashire believe the figures are just the tip of the iceberg.
Stuart Durham, clinical director of A&E and an A&E consultant for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We think the true number of admissions is far higher than these figures reveal.
"Alcohol-related admissions are often the result of violence or falls among the underaged . The complications from drinking excessively, such as liver disease and heart disease and stroke, are seen in later life.
"We are having an epidemic of binge drinking among women and this is a time bomb for the future with many women facing liver problems in middle age."
The findings, for 2006/7, were uncovered by the Liberal Democrats in a Parliamentary question to health bosses.
The party's Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Don Foster said: "The Government has talked a lot about the growing alcohol problem, but completely failed to tackle it."
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