10,000 more deaths than usual occurred in UK homes since June

Some 10,000 more deaths than usual have occurred in peoples’ private homes since mid June, long after the peak in Covid deaths, prompting fears that people may still be avoiding health services and delaying sending their loved ones to care homes.

It brings to more than 30,000 the total number of excess deaths happening in people’s homes across the UK since the start of the pandemic.

Excess deaths are a count of those deaths which are over and above a “normal” year, based on the average number of deaths that occurred in the past five years.

In the past three months the number of excess deaths across all settings, has, in the main been lower than that of previous years. However, deaths in private homes buck the trend with an average of 824 excess deaths per week in people’s homes in the 13 weeks to mid-September.

Experts are citing resistance from the public to enter hospitals or home care settings and “deconditioning” caused by decreased physical activity among older people shielding at home, for example not walking around a supermarket or garden centre as they might normally.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 September 2020