ALMOST two people are dying every week in Bury as a result of the area’s crippling alcohol dependency.

Shocking new statistics reveal the borough is among the worst in the nation for alcohol related deaths.

More than 4,000 people in Bury are being admitted to hospital each year for alcohol related conditions, piling pressure on already stretched NHS services.

The data, released by Public Health England, also showed that an average of three children each month were among those being admitted.

Harm caused by alcohol is additionally having significant financial implications for the borough and the region, costing Greater Manchester £1.3 billion a year ­— equal to £500 for every resident.

And already this year it has cost an estimated £130 million to deal with the issue in the city region.

Eytan Alexander, CEO of the country’s biggest private addiction treatment provider, UKAT, said: “The numbers speak for themselves; thousands of people across the North West hospitalised because of alcohol and worse still, staggering rises in alcohol related deaths. It’s time to admit that there is a problem here.”

In a separate NHS report published last week it was revealed that all the areas within Greater Manchester have above average rates for hospital admissions due to alcohol.

The survey also found that in the North West approximately one in twenty adults aged over 16 drink more than 35 to 50 units of alcohol a week.

This shot up to approximately one in four adults in the region who drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week, compared to 21 per cent of adults nationally.

Alcohol factored in almost 67,000 hospital admissions in Greater Manchester in the year 2017/18, including 4,091 in Bury.

And for more than 17,500 of these admissions, 1,037 of which were in Bury, alcohol was the main reason for a person requiring treatment.

Further, hospital admissions in England due to alcohol have jumped by 15 per cent since 2007/08, to 337,870.

While deaths caused specifically by alcohol in 2017 reached 5,843 ­— six per cent higher than the previous year, and 16 per cent higher than in 2007 ­— with just under twice as many men dying as women.

Cancer is the most commonly diagnosed disease resulting from alcohol abuse, responsible for almost a quarter of alcohol-related hospital admissions ­— higher than for liver disease, alcohol poisoning and accidental injuries.

It is estimated that alcohol causes cancer in 1,000 people in Greater Manchester each year, and persistent alcohol abuse has been found to increase risk of a number of cancers, including in the liver, bowel and mouth.

Sarah Price, executive lead for population health and commissioning in Greater Manchester, said: “We know that alcohol is causing a wide range of harms across Greater Manchester. While these affect people across the whole population, we are seeing particular impacts among, for example, those aged between 40 and 64. If we want to change statistics like these we all need to work together.”