Alcohol-related deaths in Wales reached record high in 2021

Aled Hughes died at just 39 years old from alcohol-dependency

There was a record level of alcohol-related deaths in Wales in 2021, national figures have shown.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said alcohol related deaths rose by 28.3% since 2019.

The rate of deaths in Wales, at 15 per 100,000 of the population, are higher than the UK average.

Andrew Misell, Wales director at Alcohol Change UK, said the figures show that "we are still living in the shadow of the pandemic".

In 2021, 472 people died as a result of alcohol abuse with men showing the largest increase of 42% on the previous year.

This is compared with an increase of 5.4% for women over the same period.

"He wasn't like the brother we knew before."

Linda, Wendy and Carys Hughes said their family argued more with their brother towards the end of his life

Linda, Carys and Wendy Hughes from Sarn Mellteyrn on the Llŷn Peninsula lost their brother Aled Hughes to alcoholism in 2000.

Aled died when he was 39 years old.

His sisters wanted to share their experience to help other families facing a similar situation.

"At the beginning he didn't see the dangers," Linda Hughes told NewyddionS4C.

"He was in a right state (at the end of his life) and who would want to see anyone in that state, least of their brother.

"He was like an old man, it was like something out of a horror film."

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The sisters say they were "best friends" with Aled but as he became more dependent on alcohol their relationship with him became strained.

Carys Hughes said: "It had reached a point at the end, and it shames me to say this but I just couldn't do with him, and that is a sobering thing to say.

"We argued until the very last day, almost. He wasn't Aled. He wasn't like the brother we knew before."

She added that with alcohol-dependency, it was "not only the individual who suffers, but the whole family".

Aled Hughes, second from the right, "didn't see the dangers" of his drinking habits in the beginning

Alcohol charities are concerned that we are just now seeing the impact of the pandemic on drinking habits.

While not everyone drank more during the pandemic, Wales director at Alcohol Change UK Andrew Misell said that about a third of people did.

"It's fairly obvious I think that we are still living in the shadow of the pandemic," said Mr Misell.

The sharp increase in the number of deaths has surprised the charity.

"We are used to saying that alcohol is something that kills over time, over decades, and I think that many of us are surprised with the sharp increase last year, and again this year." Mr Misell explained.