ALCOHOL and its connection with antisocial behaviour, domestic violence and crime in York was on the agenda of the city’s second crime summit.

The meeting, attended by more than 70 representatives from public services, charities and residents’ groups, discussed how alcohol abuse and associated problems could be addressed.

Attendees heard from Dr Gillian Kelly and North Yorkshire County Council’s Tom Hall, who revealed the findings of a study showing ten per cent of attendances at York Hospital’s casualty department involved alcohol, equal to 7,700 people a year.

The study in 2011 found the annual cost of alcohol-related attendance of the emergency department was £2million to commissioners but in reality costs hospital trust about £2.5million, the summit was told, and 55 per cent of people attending with alcohol-related problems arrive by ambulance at significant expense. Alcohol-linked admittances are spread throughout the week and are from a variety of age groups.

Dr Kelly, a consultant in the emergency department, said: “On a Friday night, it does seem the entire world except our department is intoxicated. It’s such a huge, huge problem.”