Gateshead Council has been urged to do more to tackle the harms of alcohol, especially on the town's children.
In 2019-2020, Gateshead saw 972 alcohol-related hospital admissions per 100,000 patients, way ahead of the national average of 632. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related liver disease for men are approximately 350 per 100,000, while the national average sits below 200.
Women in Gateshead account for 160 alcohol-related liver disease admissions per 100,000. The national average is around 80.
Public health officials want more to be done to counter easy access to alcohol, especially for children.
Julia Sharp, Gateshead's programme leader for substance misuse, and Alice Wiseman, the authority's director of public health, have urged the council to prohibit alcohol on council land during family events.
Julia Sharp told councillors: "One of the things we're are looking at in particular is around the visibility of alcohol around children. You can have events in Gateshead, children-focused events, and the organiser can apply for an alcohol licence.
"As public health, we don't get any say on that, only the police and the environmental health can comment on that. That is putting children in an environment where alcohol is routinely consumed.
"We have an opportunity as a council to say we aren't going to use council land for that to protect children."
Dr Mark Dornan, a Gateshead GP, told councillors the impact alcohol abuse has in his practice.
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Dr Dornan said: "I started this week with some children being taken into care with alcohol playing a key part in that situation, and I end this week with my palliative care patients I'm managing with alcohol problems.
"We have talked about the normalising of heavy drinking in our culture and I think about Scotland removing drinking from driving. Things are possible and we can change that culture."
The council has also been recommended to continue to lobby the Government to introduce a baseline price for alcoholic drinks in England. The Scottish government introduced a 50p per unit levy on alcoholic drinks in May 2018.
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