Alcohol deaths in Ayrshire fall to lowest level in five years

Alcohol-specific deaths in Ayrshire and Arran fell by seven per cent in 2023.

Figures released by the National Records of Scotland revealed that there were 80 alcohol-specific deaths in the county last year - down from 86 in 2022.

It was the third year in the last four which has seen the Ayrshire figure decrease since it peaked at 108 in 2019 and the lowest annual total recorded since 2018.

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Ayrshire continued to buck the national trend which has seen the total number of alcohol-specific deaths increase annually since 2019.

Across Scotland, there were 1,277 alcohol-specific deaths in 2023, up by one from the previous year and the highest recorded since 2008.

Alcohol-specific deaths include any death cause by any one of a number of conditions related to alcohol consumption where the cause of death is certified by a doctor.

Dr Peter Rice, Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), a partnership of the medical royal colleges, said: “The news that 2023 saw 1,277 people die as a direct result of alcohol should be the wake-up call that the Scottish Government needs to put in place a clear, coherent plan to deal with the ongoing alcohol public health emergency.

“Yet today’s statement did not have the urgency required if we want to see fewer people live in poor health for many years and for fewer people to die.

“Given the 40 per cent drop in referrals to structured alcohol services over the past decade, we need to see protection of specialist alcohol services and for these services to be expanded and made far more accessible to people of all age groups, backgrounds and walks of life.

“The resumption of the Government's work on alcohol marketing is welcome, but this is no more than a return to the point reached 18 months ago.

“I understand that the threat of legal challenges by industry leads to caution by governments as this is a well-worn tactic used by commercial interests, and this will be a factor in today’s decision.

“Even when the health case is won, as happened with Minimum Unit Price in Scotland, the ‘regulatory chill’ effect still influences policy development, which is exactly the alcohol industry’s intention.

“The Public Health Scotland review of the evidence base will add to the work done by the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments around the world who have already restricted alcohol marketing.

“The WHO regards effective marketing regulation as a high impact strategy and countries such as Ireland, Norway and Lithuania have acted on this.

“The Government's commitment to drawing on the best evidence is commendable but the only thing that will improve the health and wellbeing of people in Scotland is the translation of evidence into action."

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “Every single one of those lives lost is a profound tragedy. Behind those stark statistics are children, parents and friends who have left behind families and loved ones grieving unimaginable losses.

“I offer my sympathies to every person who is affected by the death of a loved one to drugs or alcohol. Those losses are shared by all of us and they serve as a reminder of the work that we still have ahead of us.

“We are developing a national specification for drug and alcohol care services, which will go further than our previously planned treatment target.

“That will provide clarity on what treatment and recovery services should look like and will ensure that people have access to high-quality, stigma-free, trauma-informed services.

“Additionally, we are stepping up our response to the growing threat of synthetic drugs.”

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