Hospital admissions linked to alcohol use have more than doubled in England since 1995, according to a new NHS report.

The report, Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2008, shows alcohol was either the main or secondary cause of 207,800 NHS admissions in 2006/7, compared to 93,500 in 1995/96.

And the number of GP prescriptions to treat alcohol dependency has increased by 20 per cent in the last four years.

Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre, said: "This report shows alcohol is placing an increasing burden right across the NHS - from the GP surgery to the hospital bed.

"These rises paint a worrying picture about the relationship between the population and the bottle."

The report also revealed there were 6,500 alcohol-related deaths in 2006, of which two thirds were men.

Tim Straughan, NHS Information Centre: "This report shows alcohol is placing an increasing burden right across the NHS - from the GP surgery to the hospital bed."

This is a 19 per cent rise in the number of alcohol-related deaths compared to 2001, when there were 5,500 deaths.

The report, which brings together information on alcohol related behaviour, illness and spending, also includes survey results from school pupils aged 11 to 15 and adults in England.

The number of pupils who said they had never had an alcoholic drink increased from 39 per cent in 2001 to 45 per cent in 2006.

But those who admitted drinking consumed 11.4 units per week on average - the highest ever recorded by the survey.

In 2006, 72 per cent of men and 57 per cent of women reported drinking an alcoholic drink on at least one day in the week prior to interview.

Twelve per cent of men and seven per cent of women reported drinking on every day in the previous week.

Alison Rogers, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said: "Measures taken to curb this worrying trend just aren't working so far, according to these statistics.

"This is set to hit England hard over the following years because liver disease can take up to 10 years to develop. We need action now to protect people's health to stop health harm from alcohol spiralling out of control.

"We seem to be getting on top of cardiovascular disease and cancer, but liver disease is the only one out of the big five on the rise. Piecemeal action to tackle liver disease just isn't working.

"We need a coherent government strategy to tackle liver disease that looks at the complex and inter-related factors behind it, from alcohol and viral hepatitis to obesity and treatment services."