Underage booze shame revealed as more than 100 under 16s taken to Walsall Manor Hospital in JUST 10 months

This figure was up almost 300 per cent from the previous year.

A total of 104 youngsters under 16 were admitted to the hospital for alcohol abuse from April last year to January.

For the 12 months previous the period, the hospital had 36 children aged under 16 go through its doors because offor drink.

The figures, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act, also showed 150 youngsters aged under 18 were admitted for alcohol abuse from April last year to January.

This was up from 67 in the 12 months before the period.

In total, 1,060 people were admitted to the hospital for alcohol abuse during the ten months, up from 745 in 2013/14.

The increase in admissions could relate to the downgrading of County Hospital, which had its A&E department closed over night.

The old Stafford Hospital is now run by the new University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.

But the figures have also been put down to the cheap price of alcohol and casual drinking culture.

Charity Crime Reduction Initiative (CRI) runs T3 Young Persons Substance Misuse Service, which works in Walsall targeting alcohol and drug misuse.

Kevin Woodhouse, CRI young persons' services manager for the North and Midlands said: "There are a number of reasons that can be attributed to a rise in hospital admissions related to alcohol use.

"The prevalence of alcohol, the price of alcohol and the fact that casual drinking is such a big part of our culture.

"What is more worrying is that it takes a hospital admittance for some people to recognise they have a problem with alcohol."

Councillor Pete Smith, a member of Walsall's Health and Wellbeing board and an active health campaigner in the borough, said he was concerned by the figures.

"It really is worrying, with under-16s you are talking about people who are accessing alcohol either through retail outlets which shouldn't be selling to them or from home. This is particularly disturbing"

He added that it was adding further pressure to the Manor, which has already struggled with rising numbers of admissions and increased number of patients coming from elsewhere.

"It won't help the situation with many people from the Staffordshire area being

diverted to New Cross and Walsall," he said.

"It might be a factor and certainly doesn't help but without the evidence I can't say."