Council concerns over winter death figures

Last week, the Office for National Statistics published its report on excess winter mortality in England and Wales. View the report here http://bit.ly/2FmDbRa

Excess winter deaths are defined as the difference between the number of deaths in the winter months (December to March) compared with the previous (August to November) and following (April to July) three months.

The report showed Rossendale to have the highest in East Lancashire in 2015/16.

Commenting on the report, Councillor Barbara Ashworth, Portfolio Holder for Health and Housing, said:

The figures are worrying although we understand the stats don’t show a consistent pattern year on year so we are not seeing a particular trend in our borough.

However, that doesn’t mean we should discount the stats. It’s clear people died who shouldn’t be dying. We need to understand the issues better and challenge our partners and ourselves to do more.

We have invited health partners and Lancashire County Council Public Health to come and discuss it with us. This will help us understand better what we need to do and how we can work more effectively together to help stop people getting ill in the first place and improving people’s health in the borough.

Whatever the underlying issues, we all have a role in keeping vulnerable residents living in our neighbourhood safe and well especially in the cold winter months by being good neighbours, checking on them and seeing if they are okay.