DRUG DEATHS STILL SOARING

300 fatalities in just 3 months as hospitals feel the strain

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

DRUG deaths and drug- related hospital admissions are soaring once again. 

Figures released yesterday show 307 drug deaths between June and August.

That is a spike of seven per cent since the same time last year when there were 286.

There has also been a jump in drug-related harms between June to August, compared to the previous quarter.

Drug-related emergency department attendances rose by 13 per cent and the number of drug-related hospital admissions soared by more than a quarter from 1886 to 2738.

Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “These stark figures show a deeply worrying jump in drug-related hospital admissions and show Scotland is still in the grips of a drugs crisis.