The number of alcohol related deaths in West Lothian has remained far higher than pre-pandemic levels, despite a drop in the last year.
A meeting of West Lothian’s Health and Social Care Partnership Integrated Joint Board heard that there were 1,245 alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland in 2021, an increase of 5% (55 deaths) in 2020.
In West Lothian 40 deaths were alcohol related - down from 45 in 202,0 but still far higher than 28 deaths in 2019.