Alcohol-related illness and injury rates are at their highest in Lancashire and Merseyside,

Alcohol-related illness and injury rates are at their highest in Lancashire and Merseyside, according to latest findings from a health body.

The North West Public Health Observatory figures show Blackpool has the highest rates of chronic liver disease in England.

It revealed Liverpool came top for the numbers of alcohol-related conditions treated in hospital.

Across England such admissions have increased by 879 a day since 2006.

'National problem'
The observatory based in Liverpool John Moores University based their findings on updating the 2011 Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE), first released in May.

The profiles contain 25 alcohol-related indicators for every local authority and 22 for every primary care trust in England.

Annual rates for alcohol-related hospital admission in Liverpool are 3,114 per 100,000 compared to 849 per 100,000 in the Isle of Wight.

In Blackpool, the findings showed the number of deaths from chronic liver disease were 46 per 100,000 men and 21 per 100,000 women, compared with the lowest rates in the City of London and in West Somerset where nobody died of liver disease.

Professor Mark Bellis, director of the observatory said: "The scale of damage revealed by these profiles shows alcohol is a problem for everyone in England.

"Even those families not directly affected by alcohol-related health problems, violence or abuse still pay towards the billions in taxes for the policing, health services and social support required to tackle this national problem."