Rise in avoidable deaths caused by poor NHS care

THE number of NHS patients dying unnecessarily due to poor quality care has risen by thousands in the last two years, official figures show.

So-called “amenable deaths” significantly increased from 71,656 in 2014 to 75,736 in 2016.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said such deaths are “amenable (treatable) if, in the light of medical knowledge and technology available at the time of death, all or most deaths from that cause could be avoided through good quality healthcare”.

The leading cause of such deaths was cardiovascular diseases – such as strokes or heart attacks – accounting for two fifths of all amenable deaths.

Cancer was the second highest cause of amenable deaths in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, while in Wales respiratory disease was the second-leading cause.

The ONS data said that in 2016, about 24 per cent of all deaths in the UK were considered avoidable – 141,101 deaths out of 597,206.

Cancer was the leading cause of avoidable death across the UK.