Poor planning and a lack of national resources meant people in the UK were almost 10 times more likely to die from a cold home than a road traffic accident during the cold snap last winter, a report has found. Energy charities National Energy Action (NEA) and Energy Action Scotland (EAS) said the severe weather caused a huge surge in preventable deaths among the frail and elderly, and left health and social care services “creaking at the seams”. They said the particularly cold spell between February 28 and March 3, dubbed the Beast from the East, also left thousands of vulnerable households stranded without access to support. The charities said their research is based on feedback from agencies “on the front line” and they want to use their findings to ensure key lessons can be learned in advance of the coming winter to both save lives and health and care services money. Dr Jamie-Leigh Ruse, principal author of the report and senior research and policy officer at NEA, said: “In England alone, between 1 January and 31 March 2018, an additional 15,544 deaths occurred. “Most days in this period saw more deaths than the corresponding day than in any of the previous five years.
Energy Voice 17th Sept 2018 read more »
Poor planning and a lack of national resources meant people in the UK were almost ten times more likely to die from a cold home than a road traffic accident during the cold snap last winter, a new report claims. Energy charities National Energy Action (NEA) and Energy Action Scotland said the severe weather caused a huge surge in preventable deaths among the frail and elderly, and left health and social care services “creaking at the seams”.
They said the particularly cold spell between 28 February and 3 March, at the height of what was dubbed “the Beast from the East”, also left thousands of vulnerable households stranded.
Scotsman 17th Sept 2018 read more »