Deaths at home in England and Wales up a third in 2020

Deaths in private homes in England and Wales rose by a third in 2020, with sharp increases in the number of deaths caused by heart disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, new figures show.

A total of 166,576 deaths from all causes in private homes were registered in 2020, compared with an average of 125,255 between 2015 and 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This means there were 41,321 extra deaths, or “excess deaths”, in homes during the year.

There were over 41,000 more deaths in private homes in 2020 (166,576) than the 2015 to 2019 average (125,255) for England and Wales.

Many of these deaths were people who, in a non-pandemic year, may have typically died elsewhere such as in hospital https://t.co/jD23HmaEWo pic.twitter.com/QzPTcx6ikZ

— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) May 7, 2021

Covid-19 was responsible for only 3,221 of these excess deaths, or 8% of the total.

The majority of deaths due to Covid in 2020, where coronavirus was the main cause, occurred in hospitals and care homes, the ONS said.

By contrast, many deaths from other causes, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer, happened in private homes to people who, in a non-pandemic year, may have typically died elsewhere such as in hospital.

The figures show that deaths from diabetes in private homes were 60% higher in 2020 compared with the average for 2015-19, while those from heart disease and Parkinson’s disease were both up 66%.

For dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, deaths were up 65%, with increases of 44% and 37% for prostate cancer and breast cancer respectively.

Deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in private homes were 8% below the five-year average.

Finalised mortality data for 2020 show there were 76,000 excess deaths across all locations (hospitals, care homes, private homes and elsewhere) in England and Wales.

This was 14% higher than the five-year average https://t.co/IpvzDLEHtl pic.twitter.com/HZRzatBh4E

— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) May 7, 2021

Private homes were the only setting to record excess deaths in every month of 2020 since February.

While the peak in excess deaths in care homes during April 2020 was much higher than in private homes, deaths remained above average in private homes for the rest of the year, the ONS found.

Deaths other than in private homes in England fell below the five-year average during July and August 2020, while in Wales this happened in August and September.