Deaths between November and February from 2012 to 2017

You asked

Please disclose the following:

1. The number of deaths between November and February from 2012 - 2017.

2. The number of deaths between November and February from 2012 - 2017 broken down by demographics, age, gender, and ethnicity.

3. Any internal communications and documents regarding forecasting and anticipated numbers of deaths for the same periods as mentioned in point 1

4. Any internal communications and documents regarding the allocation of resources and funding for the same period.

5. If known, the number of deaths in hospital and out of hospital.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Our mortality statistics for England and Wales are produced using death registrations and therefore we only hold the information provided when a death is registered.

We publish total numbers of deaths registered by month and area of usual residence in our monthly deaths publication. Final monthly deaths figures are available for 2006-2017, whilst 2018 data remains provisional until July 2019: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/monthlyfiguresondeathsregisteredbyareaofusualresidence

Monthly deaths by broad age-group, sex, region and country of usual of residence are available from table 4 of our excess winter mortality publication, for 2011-2016:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/excesswintermortalityinenglandandwalesreferencetables

However figures in this table are based on the date of death occurrence rather than the date of registration, and therefore numbers are not directly comparable between these publications. 2017 data for monthly deaths by age-group, sex, region and country of usual residence is due to be published in November 2018.

Ethnicity is not provided during death registration, therefore we cannot provide information about the ethnicity of the deceased.

In terms of deaths in hospitals, we do not routinely publish seasonal data, however the annual number of deaths by place of occurrence are available in tables 8 and 9 of our deaths registered in England and Wales (series DR) publication, available for 2006-2017:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdrreferencetables

These data are based on the year the death was registered, so they are not comparable with statistics based on date of occurrence.

Other special extracts and tabulations of deaths data for England and Wales are available (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs, where appropriate). You can contact the team directly at: vsob@ons.gov.uk

We do not do any seasonal forecasting of deaths. If your interest is in the forecasting of deaths or patient numbers for NHS planning, you may be able to get information from;

NHS England - https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/; or

Public Health England - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england

In terms of the allocation of resources and funding, if your interest is in matters of NHS planning and resourcing, you may be able to get information from;

NHS England - https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/; or

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care