Alcohol misuse 'costs Wales NHS £109m a year'

More than 30,000 hospital admissions a year in Wales are linked to alcohol

Alcohol misuse is still costing the Welsh NHS more than £109m a year, the deputy health minister said, despite a fall in alcohol-related deaths.

Vaughan Gething said the latest figures showed 34,000 hospital admissions and 467 deaths related to alcohol in 2013.

He told a conference in Cardiff that the Welsh government was spending £50m on measures to tackle alcohol and drug problems in the coming year.

The figures were "a stark reminder of the challenges we still face", he said.