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1M Brits dead in winter scandal | Daily Star A pensioner tries to fend off winter chills

Very severe weather can substantially add to this death toll

Professor Dame Sally Davies

Age support groups and doctors blame poor housing, high energy bills and pensioner poverty.

Many killed by the cold are elderly but the ill, vulnerable and very young also die.

A total of 973,000 people died due to winter weather from 1982/83 to 2011/12, Office of National Statistics data for England and Wales shows.

Pensioner organisations warned the current colder-than-average winter will kill more than 26,000 people by the end of March – as Britain’s winter death toll reaches a million in just 30 years.

The death toll since 1982/83 covers the period of the Government’s Keep Warm, Keep Well winter health campaign, launched after average winter deaths in the early 1980s soared to 42,000.

ONS data shows another million Brits will be killed by winters by 2050, based on the average of 27,400 cold weather deaths per winter in the last five years.

Doctors say cold weather causes higher blood pressure, tightened airways and reduced body temperature,

increasing deaths from heart attacks, strokes and respiratory illnesses – and worsening asthma and bronchitis.

The National Pensioners Convention called winter death rates a “national scandal”, blaming ministers for not doing enough to tackle high bills and low pensioner incomes.

Age UK said “tens of thousands” will die every winter unless the Government makes “major investments” in domestic energy efficiency.

Poor home insulation contributes to Britain having a worse winter death rate than almost every country in Europe, University College Dublin expert John Healy said.

Britain’s death rate leaps 18% in winter – almost double the 10% increase in freezing Finland, where home insulation is better.

Five thousand people die every winter as they face paying more than 10% of their income on energy bills, Government fuel poverty review chief Professor John Hills said.

Department of Health chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies wrote in the Health Protection Agency’s cold weather report: “Mortality rises 19% in winter months in England.

“These are not people who would have died anyhow at the time. Very severe weather can substantially add to this death toll.”

National Pensioners Convention spokesman Neil Duncan-Jordan said: “Britain’s high winter death rate is a national scandal.

“The causes are poor housing, low pensioner incomes and high energy prices. The Government is complacent and must do more to help.”

Age UK director Michelle Mitchell said: “Winter is fatal for tens of thousands every year – and the lives of thousands will continue to be at the mercy of the weather unless the Government makes major investments on improving housing energy efficiency.

“Local authorities should recognise winter deaths as a major health priority and do everything in their power to keep older people warm.”

National Federation of Occupational Pensioners chief executive Malcolm Booth warned of more than 26,000 deaths this winter, saying: “There’s a definite risk of the highest winter mortality figures since 2008/09.”

Saga spokesman Paul Green said: “Cold weather kills. There’s clearly a risk of mortality rising this winter due to the link between temperatures and deaths.”

The Department for Communities and Local Government said it was already spending £1.6billion to improve homes, also funding improved energy efficiency and tightening Building Regulations.

A new Energy Bill will also ensure that customers get the best price deal, while other schemes help the elderly save on bills and assist with insulation.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health said it had given the NHS and social services an extra £330million to cope with winter demand.