Have you ever been so drunk you thought you had alcoholic poisoning? An increasing number of Brits have, it the latest figures on hospital admissions for alcohol-related problems are anything to go by.
Drinkers and an ambulance on a night out. Photo: Getty Images
Statistics from the NHS Information Centre suggest about twice as many people currently go to hospital because they've drunk a serious amount of alcohol, or for alcohol-related problems such as cirrhosis of the liver, compared with just ten years ago.
The figures show almost 70,000 people had to go to hospital last year because of a health problem directly related to boozing. That's one person admitted to hospital for an alcohol-related problem every seven minutes.
Critics of the previous government claim the rise in serious alcohol problems is a direct result of the relaxed licensing laws that paved the way for 24-hour drinking. But supermarkets that sell ridiculously cheap booze are also coming under fire.
So why are more and more people drinking at such excessive levels? It's one thing having one too many glasses of wine on the odd Friday of Saturday night, but to drink so much you need to be admitted to hospital is in a different league entirely.
Knowing how much you can safely drink could help: that's 14 units of alcohol a week for women (21 for men). A unit is a 125ml glass of wine (that's a small glass, most pubs and clubs serve measures of double, even triple, that amount), a single pub measure of spirits or half a pint of normal-strength lager, beer or cider.
How much do you drink in an average week? Are you worried your boozing is out of control?