Excess deaths: government commissions review

The government is commissioning a review of the spike in deaths seen in England and Wales this year, after the issue was raised in The BMJ.

In March an analysis of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) data on weekly provisional deaths in England and Wales, published in The BMJ,1 found that by week seven of 2018 (ending 16 February) 10 000 more people had died than the average from the past five years. A subsequent analysis2 showed that, by the end of week 16 (ending 20 April), 20 215 …