More than 1,600 people were admitted to hospital with drug poisoning in Oxfordshire last year, new figures show.
Records released by the Department of Health revealed 1,652 people were treated in the county in 2006/7 – up slightly from the 1,632 who were admitted five years previously, in 2002/3.
The drugs involved ranged from illicit narcotics and hallucinogens to legal antibiotics and medicines.
The figures revealed that 284 of the individuals treated last year by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust at its John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton hospitals were aged 18 or under. They included 35 aged 10 or under.
The statistics were released by the Government in response to parliamentary questions from the Liberal Democrats, who said they were “horrifying”.
Health officials stressed that the figures included adverse reactions to prescribed medicines and incidents such as children taking medicines accidentally as well as overdoses.
It is unknown how many were the result of illegal substance abuse.
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