21.08.13
PHE blames flu for excess winter deaths
A rise in winter deaths could be due to flu and cold weather, not poor performance by the NHS, Public Health England (PHE) has said.
In the first four months of this year, there was a jump in the number of elderly deaths compared to the same period in 2012, which a leaked report suggested could be down to service reconfiguration and local cuts.
The Times, which obtained a copy of the report, reported last months that a lack of funding was behind the extra deaths, but after further investigation PHE has now stated that a prolonged winter and two strains of flu were the key factors.
Dr Paul Cosford, director of health protection and medical director at PHE, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the excess “coincides with two things: one is the two strains of flu that circulated this winter, and that went along with a prolonged period of cold weather.”
He added: “Cold itself has an impact on people dying.”
He said there was a similar pattern in other countries across Europe which had been affected by the poor weather.
But Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said the factors were more complicated, and that poor weather was an association and not necessarily a causative effect.
The increase in deaths was particularly high in the over-85s, he said, suggesting that it could be partly to do with “running up against life expectancy”. The excess mortality was also more pronounced in poorer areas, where elderly people cannot afford to keep their homes warm enough.
Professor Ashton urged that more to be done to prevent the annual phenomenon of excess winter deaths, which he said is not such a problem in countries with similar or harsher climates but which have better-insulated homes and where pensioners tend to have better incomes.
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]