Responding to the weekly mortality stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the week ending 16 October, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research Sarah Scobie said:
“The areas of England that are seeing the most deaths from Covid-19 are the same areas facing spikes in cases and tighter restrictions to curb the virus, with particular increases in deaths due to Covid-19 registered in the North West.
These stark regional differences are now really beginning to affect local services. While there is understandably a desire to maintain non-Covid services in hospitals, this is coming up against the reality of rising numbers of cases and severely ill patients in the worst-affected regions. What’s more, cancelled operations are just one symptom of the strain hospital services are under – they don’t tell us about the growing pressures faced by families and carers as deaths outside hospital continue to climb.”
Notes to editors
- The Office for National Statistics weekly mortality statistics are available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending16october2020
- The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
- For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Simon Keen on 07805 217935 or simon.keen@nuffieldtrust.org.uk