The new figures are based on a report published in the Health Service Journal, titled “Exclusive: Rocketing death rate provokes calls for national investigation.” The report indicates there have been 5.6 percent more deaths in England and Wales during 2015 compared with 2014. This represents the largest increase in the national death rate anytime since the 1960’s.
Reviewing the data, health expert Professor Dominic Harrison has told BBC Health that the alteration in the death rate needs to act as a “strong warning light” for the British government. Professor Harrison is the director of public health in Blackburn and Darwen.
Making a politically charged point, the academic infers that Conservative Party led cuts to social care budgets are part of the reason. The official body overseeing matters of health in the affected parts of the U.K., Public Health England, has indicated the data is preliminary and it has not been subject to full review. Professor Harrison is an adviser to Public Health England.
Knowing the bigger picture, Professor Harrison has pointed out a separate review by Public Health England, published in 2014, which shows a fall in life expectancy at age 85 across England. The reasons, Professor Harrison suggests, include cuts to services delivering meals to elderly people; reductions in spending on preventative care; and cuts to bodies that visit elderly people to talk to them and help to address issues like loneliness.
Here he states: “One of the things this data might be telling us is that that it is just not possible for the health and social care system to contain costs, improve quality, reduce inequality and improve outcomes within such a rapidly diminishing resource envelope.” Current government policy shows no sign of reversing the decisions that have led to the cuts in elderly care services.
