A NEW report has revealed the shocking truth about the toll alcohol is taking on people's health - and on hospital services across the region.

The South West Public Health Observatory says drink-related admissions to accident and emergency departments rose by 50 per cent in just four years.

But between 2001 and 2005, the number of 18 to 24-year-olds taken into hospital because of acute alcohol intoxication increased by 140 per cent and the number of under 18s by 60 per cent.

The report estimates that 728,500 people aged 16 and 64 drink to "hazardous" levels, while 119,000 in the region are classed as alcohol dependent.

Dr Gabriel Scally, regional director of public health, said: "We need to call time on alcohol misuse in the south west. Not only does it affect the health of the person misusing it, at a massive cost to the health service, but it also has a wider impact, affecting children, families, education, productivity, crime and disorder."

Alison Rogers, director of the Ringwood-based British Liver Trust, said the charity wanted alcohol to be made more expensive and more emphasis placed on education.

"Liver disease is the fifth largest cause of death and the only one on the increase," she said. "In the UK, young people have the expectation that they will go out and get bladdered. They don't have the sense that it's not a nice thing to do. That's bolstered by the fact that you have magazines laughing about celebrities getting drunk."

A spokeswoman for Poole Hospital said: "Excessive alcohol consumption impacts on services across the hospital - irresponsible drinking puts extra pressure on services in our emergency department and too much alcohol can cause a range of longer-term health problems that will result in admission to hospital at a later stage.

"The Public Health Observatory's report highlights the real impact drinking has on hospital services."