Excess Winter Mortality in the West Midlands
Excess deaths in winter (EWD) is an important public health issue in the UK, potentially amenable to effective intervention. EWD are associated with cold weather, but it has been observed that other countries in Europe especially the colder Scandinavian countries have relatively fewer excess winter deaths in winter compared to the UK.
In the West Midlands, EWD is one of the priority areas for the NHS West Midlands. In their five year Strategic plan –Investing for Health1, “A framework for improving health and health services in the region” – a three year project was identified to attempt to tackle this important concern.
An interactive mapping tool was produced by the West Midlands Public Health Observatory (WMPHO) using Instant Atlas™ from Geowise that allowed the user to view selected data relating to excess winter deaths in the West Midlands. This has now been superseded by the Excess Winter Deaths in England Atlas.
| Definitions |
| Excess winter mortality |
EWM Index |
| The number of deaths in the four winter months (December to March ) minus the average number of deaths during the preceding four months (August to November) and subsequent four months (April to July). The year runs from August to July. |
The excess winter deaths expressed as a percentage of the average number of deaths in the autumn and summer months |
References
- ifh2.westmidlands.nhs.uk/InvestingforHealthKeyProjects/P02aReducingExcessWinterDeaths.aspx
Publication and policy documents from DH and elsewhere