Figures collected by the Office for National Statistics have shown 10% more deaths than expected since April this year. This is 10% above the 5-year average. It seems that the reason for these excess deaths is circulatory diseases and diabetes. Effectively these deaths will have been due to conditions such as heart attacks or strokes with heart disease and diabetes as the underlying factors. But why such an increase?

There’s no doubt that through and following Covid access to NHS care has been challenging and what we are seeing may be a knock-on effect from that.

The UK is pretty good at data recording so it’s important that we recognise this as a real effect. I suspect this will continue for some time and it’s a clear signal that we need to work harder to ensure that people with these conditions can access the care they need.

Paul Zollinger-Read CBE

Group Medical Director 

The views expressed in the blog are my own personal views and are not intended as medical advice.