Deaths rise by 114 over winter in Shropshire
There are 114 additional deaths during the winter in Shropshire compared to the rest of the year, new figures have revealed.
Meanwhile, more than 30 per cent of homes in the county are affected by fuel poverty. A report to Shropshire's health and wellbeing board states there are 19,572 "fuel poor" households, which makes it 13th worst out of the 152 local authorities in England.
The county also had 1,740 "excess winter deaths" between 2002 to 2012, making it 96th out of 126 local authorities.
Excess winter deaths are defined as the difference between the number of deaths from December to March and the average number of deaths during the preceding four months and the subsequent four months.
A scheme to tackle fuel poverty, the HeatSavers Scheme, will be considered by Shropshires health and wellbeing board meeting at Shirehall, tomorrow at 9.30am.
The scheme has delivered help and advice to more than 300 people and awarded £207,000 in grants.
The report states: "Approximately 30 per cent of privately rented households and 17 per cent of council houses do not meet the standards of decency, mainly because they are not warm enough or are in poor repair.
"This is more common in older properties lived in by young people under 24 or older people over 65.
"The health and wellbeing board recognise the importance of continuing to provide advice and support to vulnerable groups about how to keep warm in winter and support the local housing partnerships to work with landlords to improve the quality of accommodation for vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and young people."
