SNP shadow health spokeswoman Shona Robison said ministers should look into whether the health service in Tayside could provide a model for other areas where the binge drinking death toll is increasing.

They include Fife - up to a record 76 from 61 in the space of a year.

“The picture in Scotland is disturbing,” said Ms Robison, MSP for Dundee East. “We worked out that there has been about a 20% increase in alcohol-related deaths in Scotland since 1999.

“There are some areas which have recorded an all-time high in 2005. Thankfully Tayside isn’t one of them, but there is no cause for complacency because the figures have gone up and down in different areas.

“We should be looking at whether there are things happening in certain health board areas, such as Tayside, that are working and having an impact.

“If that is the case we need to see more of it to get the message across and help people in other parts of the country.”

The MSP said there was a “long way to go” in addressing a national boozing culture.

“The problem has not been turned around, we have to be honest about that, and perhaps the hope lies with the next generation,” continued Ms Robison.

“We have in Scotland a binge drinking culture, which involves young people.

“We need to make sure young people get the warning that abuse of alcohol can ultimately kill you – it needs to be hard-hitting.

“We also need to make sure that when people, particularly those who end up in hospital because of the abuse of alcohol, or are accessing GP services, need help it is available.

“When someone recognises they have a problem and seeks help, for example counselling or rehabilitation services, it has to be immediate, not six months down the line.

Dr Peter Rice, consultant psychiatrist with the NHS Tayside Alcohol Problem Service, said the reduction in Tayside deaths was “encouraging,” but cautioned against reading too much into it.

“This fits with what we are seeing in falling acute hospital admission rates, when across Scotland they are rising quite rapidly,” said Dr Rice.

“In Tayside we have always had an active treatment service, both in the NHS and the voluntary sector, and we are all continuing to do what we’ve always done.

“We have certainly gotten busier, and that has been a struggle, trying to take on more work with fixed resources.

“However, I would also sound a note of caution. We are only talking about one year’s figures, and underlying it there are things like liver disease rates rising very fast.

A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said they were “well aware” of the country’s problems with alcohol, and a range of work was under way to tackle the causes and consequences.

“The Licensing Act includes tough action to deal with binge and under-age drinking, new powers in anti-social behaviour legislation are helping police and other agencies deal with alcohol-related crime, we are supporting an alcohol test purchase pilot in Fife, and ploughing extra resources into education and rehabilitation,” she said.

“We will be publishing an updated alcohol action plan in the next few months.”