More than 2,500 people in England and Wales are likely to have died in the past week as a direct result of cold weather, health forecasters say.
Research published on Tuesday by the Faculty of Public Health and the Met Office shows they will have died from treatable ailments.
It says a higher proportion of the UK’s population dies as a result of the cold than in either Finland or Russia.
The researchers say the “needless” deaths put a strain on the NHS.
Most are caused by heart or breathing problems brought on by the cold and damp.
Professor Sian Griffiths, President of the Faculty of Public Health, said as many as 50,000 people could die “unnecessarily” in the UK this winter.
“The UK remains one of the worst countries in the world at coping with unseasonal low temperatures,” she said.
“Although the government has shown commitment to tackling the problem, it has not given sufficient priority to such an important public health issue and its approach remains far too unco-ordinated.”
But Health Minister Stephen Ladyman said Britain had a higher death rate from the cold because “winter always takes us by surprise”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have made strenuous efforts to get this message over, to get older people to take up the grants that we have made available and to take up their flu jabs. The message goes on and on.”
**
On Monday it emerged that an elderly couple in south London died a few weeks after their gas was cut off due to non-payment of a £140 bill.
George Bates, 89, and his 86-year old wife Gertrude were found on 18 October in the Tooting home they had shared for 64 years. British Gas said the Data Protection Act prohibited them from passing information on the situation to social services. Former director general of Age Concern England, Baroness Greengross, called for a review of the act, saying many professionals do not understand what they can and cannot say.
She told Today: "At the moment it looks as though we’re protecting data at the expense of people.
"Unfortunately, we had the awful tragic items that we heard about last week in connection with the Soham case, and now this week another one where people just don’t know if they can inform the authorities about what they know - with disastrous results.
“This is something that we can’t afford to remain with us.”
The Baroness was joined in her call for a review by chairman of the health select committee, David Hinchliffe, who said he was “astonished” British Gas had been unable to pass on information.
**
PS:- so what good is this data protection act doing for the well being of commons!!