St Helier Hospital has hired an addiction specialist from the Priory to cope with their huge jump in alcohol-related admissions – especially in middle-aged and elderly people.

The Carshalton-based hospital has seen 50 per cent more people admitted with injuries and illnesses linked to alcohol consumption in the last two years, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said.

The number of women aged between 30 and 49 years old almost doubled, while admissions of men aged 50-64 and 65 and older jumped by 81 per cent and 113 per cent, respectively.

Alcohol misuse in boys under 18 also increased by a whopping 133 per cent, prompting the launch of a new Alcohol Liaison Service, headed by specialist nurse Sarah Moloi.

The service has been commissioned by the London Borough of Sutton, developed in partnership with South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust.

Mrs Moloi said her job would include raising awareness and continuing to give patients support even after they had left St Helier Hospital.

She said: “Hospital records show that over the last two years we have seen a significant increase in the number of people referred or admitted because of harmful or hazardous drinking and alcohol-related problems.

“Excessive drinking and dependency on alcohol can have a significant impact on a person’s health and wellbeing, not just physically but mentally as well.

“It is incredibly important that we are able to offer these people the right kind of help at the right time.”

Between 2013 and 2015 949 patients were admitted to St Helier for alcohol-related injury and illnesses – 569 men and 380 women.

Since Mrs Moloi’s arrival, referrals of patients with ‘problem drinking’ has increased, with up to ten new cases each week.

Epsom and St Helier Trust has been under severe pressure this winter, with a winter vomiting bug meaning all but a few beds were occupied at peak times in December.

On December 7 the trust ran out of beds, and three times in one week it only had one bed free for critically ill adult patients.

And on December 4 St Helier Hospital had to divert ambulances to other A&E departments for an hour, according to an NHS England Situational Report.