Welcome to Surrey's Big Drink Debate website
Ambitious target to reduce hazardous drinking
Highlighted by NHS Surrey during its Big Drink Debate, the latest report confirms that hazardous drinking is the number one alcohol issue.
Launching the ambitious Alcohol Strategy to reduce this from 25% to 20%, Dr Ruth Milton said: "The reality is that Surrey has greater hazardous drinking levels than anywhere else in the country. There are many areas of peoples' lives which can be severely affected by alcohol including domestic abuse, the long term effects or simply how much is safe to drink."
Surrey has seven out of the top ten boroughs for hazardous drinking in England. In addition, crime and anti-social behaviour relating to alcohol is an issue for many boroughs, particularly those with a significant night time economy.
The scale of this issue can be seen in these simple statistics
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Alcohol attributable hospital admissions have doubled since 2002
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213,407 people or almost 1 in 6 of us drink hazardously
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168,473 of us in Surrey binge drink
The strategy recognises that alcohol is part of our culture, and our plans are all about ensuring that we drink safely and sensibly. Only 22% of people know the correct daily limits and raising this figure will be key to helping people drink more safely.
Limits are:
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Men should not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol per day.
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Women should not regularly drink more than two to three units of alcohol per day.
