The number of drug-related hospital stays in Scotland increased by 15 per cent last year, according to new figures from Public Health Scotland (PHS).
There were 11,136 drug-related hospital stays in 2023-24, up from 9,654 in 2022-23. Almost half of the people admitted to hospital for drug-related reasons lived in the country’s most deprived areas, the agency adds.
The overall rate of drug-related hospital stays was 212 per 100,000 population, up from 2022-23’s rate of 186 per 100,000 but below the 2021-22 level of 242 per 100,000. The highest stay rate – at 91 per 100,000 – was for opioids, while the highest patient rate was among 35-44-year-olds, at 373 per 100,000. The stay rate for cocaine reached its highest ever level, at 39 per 100,000.
A person can have more than one drug-related hospital stay within a financial year, the report points out, with 11,136 stays among 8,535 patients in 2023-24. The combined drug-related stay rate increased more than threefold between the end of the 1990s and 2019-2020, it adds, from 87 to 289 stays per 100,000 population – followed by a decrease and then the current rise.
Public Health Scotland last month issued a warning after an increase in ‘sudden overdoses’ that often require multiple doses of naloxone to reverse, with its quarterly RADAR report from earlier in the year warning that the presence of nitazenes and other potent synthetic drugs meant the country’s drug supply remained ‘highly toxic and unpredictable’.
‘It’s very concerning that the number of people going into hospital for drug-related reasons is rising again, despite the increased focus on the issue in recent years,’ said Abbeycare’s Gordon Peacock. ‘It is clear that more needs to be done to prevent people reaching crisis point, so they do not end up requiring NHS treatment after taking drugs or overdosing.’
Drug-related hospital statistics: Scotland 2023-24 available here