Senators on Tuesday questioned the government about the excess deaths in private homes and whether the strain on ambulance services and COVID-19 lockdowns are contributing to the numbers.
It comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) 4,107 deaths counted in private homes Enrollments in England and Wales in week 51 last year were 37.5% higher than the five-year average for the same week.
According to the Epoch Times analysis, Provisional figures for ONS In England and Wales, weekly deaths in hospitals and care homes in 2022 were well below the 5-year average in the early months and then increased, but deaths in private homes The numbers remain higher than average throughout the year.
By December 30, the number of deaths in care homes in 2022 was the same as the five-year average (2016-2019 and 2021). While hospital deaths were 1.57% above average for him, private home deaths jumped by more than a fifth to 22.8% for him.
The ONS stressed that the baseline was higher than usual due to a flurry of deaths from COVID-19 in the first eight weeks of 2021, which may have skewed the figures for the first eight weeks. bottom.
On the other hand, according to The Times of London When BBCMore than 650,000 deaths will be registered in 2022, the highest excess deaths in the last 50 years, excluding a pandemic, according to an analysis of UK-wide data from the ONS, Scottish National Records and the Northern Ireland Office for Statistics and Research. was the number of people Year.
Baroness: “Pretty alarm bell.”
Asked the health minister about the excess deaths in private homes for the 51st week that ended 23 December, trade unionist Baroness Mellon said the spike was “quite alarming”. .
Citing analysis suggesting “logging ambulance and emergency delays” as a plausible explanation for the rise in sudden deaths at home, she wrote to the government to create its own analysis investigating potential causal links. asked to do.
Labor’s Sir Alan of Hallam has also urged the government to investigate pressure on ambulance services, while fellow Conservatives Lord Hannan and Lord Dobbs of Kingsclare question the role of the COVID-19 lockdown. during which hospital waiting lists reached record lengths.
“Some of these figures clearly reflect diagnoses and treatments that did not occur during the pandemic,” Hannan said.
“OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] The country with the lowest excess deaths in the last two years was Sweden, but my noble friend the pastor would have locked down if he knew what we know now ?” he asked.
In response to questions, Lord Markham, Minister for Health and Human Services, said: The high prevalence of the flu, his ongoing COVID-19 challenges, and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. He added that the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will provide a further update on Thursday.
He also said that cardiovascular death is a “major problem” that the government sees in terms of excess mortality.
Many of the deaths occurred in private homes rather than in other settings, “due to personal choice because it was happening in the summer and early in the year,” the minister said.
He said a heat wave was a contributing factor last summer, but now includes flu, an early cold snap that caused more cardiovascular deaths, according to England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty. There are many factors at work,” he added. , and challenges in health services.
Markham commented on the link between the strain on ambulance services and excess deaths at home, Whitty wrote an annual report “just about this” and said the government would “do the same and all We are investigating the cause,” he said. “
In response to criticism of the lockdown, Markham told Dobbs that the government had “learned its lessons all along” and “had become much more resistant to lockdowns over time” and “completely agrees”.[d]The impact of lockdowns should be a ‘significant feature’ of public investigations into COVID-19 led by Mrs. Hallett.
Backlogs, strikes, and more
It is widely believed that delays in diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as pressure on hospital beds, contributed to the higher-than-normal death toll last year.
By the end of October, 6.95 million people were on the waiting list for hospital admissions, down slightly from 7.07 million the previous month. Latest National Health Service (NHS) statistics show.
Including missing data estimates puts the number at 7.21 million, a record high, according to the same NHS data set.
It is also believed that recent strikes by nurses and paramedics could result in fatalities.
Jamie Jenkins, the former head of health and labor market analytics for the ONS and one of the experts who asked the government to look into the matter for several months, told the Epoch Times that the population is aging. I have said before that this may also be a factor. , diagnostic pathologist Claire Craig, Ph.D., another advocate for investigating excess mortality, cited diabetes and psychological stress during the COVID-19 pandemic as other possible causes.
They also mentioned side effects (ADRs) to the COVID-19 vaccine that are known to be associated with myocarditis, pericarditis, and other reactions.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continues to evaluate vaccine safety data, including analysis of reports to the Yellow Card system, an early warning system of potential ADRs against medicines or medical devices. are doing
among them latest update The MHRA, published last month, counted 2,362 UK reports of suspected ADRs to the COVID-19 vaccine in which patients died after being vaccinated by 23 November.
Not all patients who reported suspected ADR died from the vaccine. Also, the percentage of ADRs that may be reported to the yellow card system is unknown.
Lily Zhou is an Ireland-based reporter focusing on UK news. Lily said she attended the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times for the first time before she focused on the UK in 2020.