Boozers are causing a £27 million headache for Bradford’s health chiefs, a study today reveals.

That is the cost of treating alcohol-related illnesses and incidents by the district’s health services. Excessive drinking has been blamed for a large number of deaths, chronic illness, violent crime and anti-social behaviour.

More than a hundred health professionals were gathering at a conference in Bingley today to be presented with the findings of the latest Alcohol Needs Assessment for the Bradford district.

The study highlight patterns of harmful, hazardous and dependent drinking and exposes gaps in the availability of care, including where particular groups are not making sufficient use of available services.

It details the concerns of public health doctors in the district for the estimated one in five people who are damaging their health by excessive drinking – with an alarming increase in alcohol-related conditions being seen among people in their 20s and 30s.

Drinking to excess puts people at greater risk of liver disease, high blood pressure, heart problems and cancer. In addition excessive drinking can cause psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, and social problems, such as the breakdown of relationships, poor performance at work and financial problems.

A series of recommendations, included in the study, carried out by NHS Bradford and Airedale, will be used to improve care for people with alcohol problems and their families.

Dr Andrew O’Shaughnessy, public consultant with NHS Bradford and Airedale, said: “The number of patients with health problems caused by drinking too much is rising each year and this is draining money from the NHS.

“What is of particular concern is that we are now seeing younger people, in their 20s and 30s, with liver disease caused by alcohol and also that there is an increase in harmful drinking amongst young women.”

He said everything had to be done to make people aware of the dangers of drinking excessively because the signs and symptoms of alcohol related illness often don’t show themselves until serious damage has been done.

“It seems to have become socially acceptable for adults to binge drink,” added Dr O’Shaughessy. “From local lifestyle surveys we know that a fifth of adults admit to binge drinking on at least a weekly basis. We also know that people have a tendency to under-report how much they drink and we could see an increase in this figure as the recession takes hold.”

Nina Smith, Bradford Council’s programme lead for alcohol, who is chairing the conference at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, said: “I welcome this conference, especially as GPs and practice nurses have a crucial role to play in spotting early evidence of excessive drinking by their patients and therefore being able to give them advice about sensible drinking.

“We need more alcohol treatment services as a result of the large number of people drinking at harmful levels. If we can reduce the level of harmful drinking among younger people, then the NHS will not need to spend so much money in the 2020s on treating both alcohol dependency and the diseases caused by excessive drinking.

“To help achieve this, I strongly urge parents not to condone and even encourage their teenage children’s drinking by giving them alcohol to drink at parties and in friends’ houses.”