Insulation specialist Actis has backed calls by the NHS and elderly people’s charity Independent Age for more help for those at risk from cold related death.
The appeals follow the release this week of figures showing the number of ‘excess winter deaths’ rose last year to its highest point since 1999 – with more than 43,000 more people dying last winter than during other periods of the year.
While an ineffective flu vaccine is being held partly responsible for the high figures, the fact remains, say health specialists, that cold weather and living in cold and damp environments exacerbates the effects of such conditions.
NHS guidelines published earlier this year said that plumbers, heating engineers and meter installers should alert the authorities when they visited a “dangerously cold home” in order to help reduce the toll of winter deaths.
And now Janet Morrison, the chief executive of the older people’s charity Independent Age, has called on councils, the government and energy companies to help insulate homes and assist with energy bills for vulnerable customers.
Both calls have been applauded by Actis UK and Ireland director Matthew King who says a warm, draught and damp free home is essential for wellbeing and good health.
“It is well known that the effects of respiratory and circulatory diseases are greater in cold and damp conditions. Cold can also add to confusion, a particular hazard for dementia sufferers and even falls can be caused by people having difficult moving around in very low temperatures.
“It is a basic humane act to ensure that vulnerable, elderly people are provided with a safe and warm environment in which to live. The winter fuel payment alone is simply not sufficient. There is no point in heating a house which leaches heat. If it is properly insulated in the first place the heat that is generated will stay where it is intended. Those who are most at risk in the winter are usually the ones who can least afford either to have the improvements carried out or pay to heat their homes properly.”
Elderly people, individuals with low incomes (up to nine million Britons live in fuel poverty), those with mental health disabilities, babies and children under five, and pregnant women are considered vulnerable when the outside temperature drops below 6°C.
The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, say the majority of deaths (36,300) occurred among people aged 75 and over and respiratory diseases were the underlying cause of death in more than a third of cases. Circulatory diseases caused almost a quarter of the deaths, and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease were responsible for more excess winter deaths (9,100) than ever before.
The ONS defines excess winter deaths as the number of people whose deaths were registered between December and March, compared with the numbers for the previous three months and the following three months.
The figures show that the number of excess winter deaths was 151% higher than in 2013/14, representing the biggest yearly increase since records began.