NORTH-EAST hospitals have seen a dramatic drop in the number of attempted suicides from paracetamol overdoses due to restrictions on the drug.

Research at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital found that following legislation introduced in 1998 the number of patients admitted for liver damage due to a paracetamol overdose has halved.

The hospital is one of eight centres in the UK with a specialist liver unit and deals with referrals from across the region.

Before September 1998 the average monthly number of patients admitted because of liver damage or for a transplant at the Freeman was 2.5, but after that date it fell to just one.

Paracetamol overdose is the most common cause of deliberate self-harm in the UK today, with an estimated 70,000 cases a year.

Although most overdoses do not require medical treatment, taking as little as ten grammes, or 20 tablets, may be enough to cause acute liver damage.

Until September 1998, the popular painkiller was available in unlimited quantities, mainly contained loose in bottles.

But the new law limited supermarket packets to 16 tablets and pharmacy products to 32 pills.

The law also forced paracetamol tablets to be sold in blister packs, which means that each individual pill has to be popped out of the packet, rather than shaken out of bottles.

Dr Mark Hudson, consultant liver specialist at the Freeman Hospital, said restrictions on the drug had been a major factor in reducing the number of cases admitted.

He said: "If someone is determined to commit suicide and has planned it well then there is little that a restriction can do because people will get hold of a high number of tablets.

"But it has reduced the number of impulse suicide attempts by people taking whatever is available at the time and this is what has shown in our research.

"The figure has also dropped nationally which would lend further proof to the effect the legislation has had and we will continue to monitor the situation here in the North-East in the forthcoming years."

The Freeman's research was released yesterday in a report published by The Lancet medical magazine.