The number of people in the West who died as a result of the severe winter earlier this year jumped by more than a quarter, with thousands more people dying than usual.
The figures were branded ‘a national disgrace’ yesterday, and today the NHS will launch a major new drive to recruit ‘winter Samaritans’ in every community to look out for the elderly and vulnerable as temperatures plummet this year.
Yesterday the massive increase in the numbers of people dying because of the cold – known statistically as ‘excess winter deaths’ – became the subject of a political row, with the Government coming under pressure to act over the scandal.
Prime Minister David Cameron played down the big jump, which saw 31,000 more people die last winter than in the rest of the year, with the PM’s official spokesman pointing out that the harsh winter coincided with a prolonged influenza season.
“One of the things they have also said in the context of that is that the factor also saw an increase in excess deaths across Europe,” he said. “The Government has a range of measures to support the vulnerable – winter fuel payments, the cold weather payments – and it is this Government that has maintained the higher level of cold weather payment.”
In the West, the number of excess winter deaths last winter rose to 3,100 – a jump of 27 per cent on an historically low number of 2,440 in the winter of 2011-12. It is the first time the number has gone above 3,000 for five years.
Last year the Western Daily Press backed Somerset Community Foundation’s Surviving Winter Campaign which aimed to tackle the crisis locally – sparking similar campaigns across the West Country.
The first three months of 2013 were among the coldest for a generation, with a big freeze lasting from Christmas until well into March, which was the coldest March since 1962. That month in Britain, 1,582 people died every day, 14 per cent more than average. Following recent price hikes from energy companies, many people may be forced to choose between “heating and eating”, Labour warned.
Shadow public health minister Luciana Berger said: “A third of these excess deaths are caused by people living in homes that are too cold. This winter, David Cameron’s failure to stand up to the energy companies will leave too many people forced to choose between heating and eating.
Ministers need to take urgent action and back Labour’s plans to freeze energy bills.”
Age UK’s charity director, Caroline Abrahams, added: “Excess winter deaths are preventable and today’s figures are a damning indictment of our failure to address the scandal of cold homes in this country.
“We strongly believe that the only sustainable solution is investment to increase the energy efficiency of our housing stock so cold homes become a thing of the past. The chancellor must take urgent action on this in next week’s autumn statement.”
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: “The Government cannot cross its fingers and hope for a milder winter, it must take action now. The Big Six energy companies need reining in. It’s a national disgrace that elderly people are dying in this country because they are too frightened to put on their heating.”
Friends of the Earth fuel poverty campaigner Sophie Neuburg added: “Making energy efficiency a top Government priority would knock hundreds of pounds off fuel bills, create jobs and save thousands of lives every year.”
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “This rise in deaths is concerning, but we know from a report published by Public Health England this August that increased excess deaths in 2012-13 were occurring across Europe and coincided with an unusually prolonged influenza season and late cold period.