Health security

Large 'jump in deaths' expert warns

Prof Harrison's own analysis backs up figures in the Health Service Journal which suggest there have been 5.6% more deaths in England and Wales in 2015 than in the previous year - the biggest increase in the national death rate since the 1960s.

Though the final figures - which take changes in population size into account - will not be released by the Office for National Statistics until the summer, experts say more needs to be done to understand the reasons behind the spike and urge public health experts to focus on wider factors, not just influenza.

Prof Harrison, director of public health in Blackburn and Darwen and adviser to Public Health England, also points to a separate report by Public Health England which reveals a large number of local authorities showed a fall in life expectancy at age 85 in 2014.