The number of people who died last year was the biggest annual rise in more than 50 years, official figures have revealed, with health experts blaming a crisis in care of the elderly.

The 528,340 deaths in 2015 was more than 5 per cent higher than the previous year - the highest annual rate since 1968.

But public health experts warned that long-term trends suggested the shocking rise could turn out to be the 'greatest rise since the Second World War'.

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Death rates soared to the highest level since 1968 last year but health experts warned that long-term trends suggested the shocking rise could turn out to be the 'greatest rise since the Second World War'

When long-term factors are taken into account - such as the high rates of elderly immigrants who arrived in the 1960s - the mortality rate could easily be on a par with the rate recorded in the 1940s, according to health professors.

Last year's mortality rate data, released in preliminary data from the Office of National Statistics, showed a rise of nearly 27,000 deaths on the previous year.

The annual death rate started to rise in 2011 after 40 years of a steady decline.

Advisers to Public Health England (PHE) warned that the change was a 'strong and flashing amber warning light [that] something is making the population more vulnerable to avoidable death'.

They called for an urgent investigation and warned that a crisis in care of the elderly was causing the alarming rise in death rates.

RISING DEATH RATES BLAMED ON CUTS TO SOCIAL SERVICES George Osborne's cuts to social services have been blamed on the rising death rates The highest death rate in nearly 50 years has been blamed on George Osborne's cuts to social services. Oxford University Professor Danny Dorling, who advises Public Health England on life expectancy, said the higher mortality rate, which is particularly higher among women, is down to a reduction in services such as meals on wheels. He said it was not a coincidence that the mortality rate had shot up during times of austerity. 'When we look at 2015, we are not just looking at one bad year,' he told the Health Service Journal. 'We have seen excessive mortality - especially among women - since 2012.' 'I suspect the largest factor here is cuts to social services - to meals on wheels, to visits to the elderly. 'We have seen these changes during a period when the health service is in crisis, while social care services have been cut back.' Advertisement

Dominic Harrison, a professor at the Central Lancashire University and Blackburn, told the Health Service Journal: ‘One of the things this data may be telling us is it is just not possible… to contain costs, improve quality, reduce inequality and improve outcomes within such a rapidly diminishing resource envelope… we need to understand exactly what is happening if we are to prevent it continuing.’

Oxford University Professor Danny Dorling, who advises Public Health England on life expectancy, blamed the Government's cuts to social services for the rise in death rates.

'When we look at 2015, we are not just looking at one bad year. We have seen excessive mortality - especially among women - since 2012.'

'I suspect the largest factor here is cuts to social services - to meals on wheels, to visits to the elderly.

'We have seen these changes during a period when the health service is in crisis, while social care services have been cut back.'

Warning that other factors could take the death rate to levels not seen since the Second World War, he added: 'The statistics clearly show that this is the biggest rise we have seen since the 1960s.

'But this may well turn out to be the greatest rise since the Second World War, taking into account the sustained nature of the rise, as well as other factors, such as the trend for immigration of older people in the 1960s.'

A spike in deaths during the first months of 2015 have been attributed to flu and ineffective vaccines.

In February last year, it was reported that the winter death toll was the highest for 15 years after millions were given a useless jabs.

Death rates during the flu season in England and Wales were 25 per cent higher than the previous year.

PHE have admitted that the vaccine only protected three in 100 people who receive it and does not help protect against the strain that caused devastation this winter.

But public health experts told the Health Service Journal (HSJ), who reported the story last night, that this did not explain the growth in 2015, and similar patterns in recent years.

The HSJ said that the causes for the high death rates were still unknown.

Experts have floated a number of theories including, weather, flu, cuts to care, support and health services, the recession, high pressure on NHS, a rapidly growing older population, older people returning to England from abroad and unidentified infections.

David Buck, King’s Fund senior fellow for public health and inequalities, said there were multiple possible causes. He said: ‘PHE really needs to get behind this and investigate more thoroughly as guardian of the nation’s health.’

Public Health England’s chief knowledge officer John Newton said: ‘We have been monitoring changes in life expectancy and mortality in England… We find the statistics for older people fluctuate quite a bit from year to year and around the country. There is often no obvious pattern to this but it is clearly important to keep a close eye on the trends and consider a range of possible explanations.

Cancers accounted for three in ten deaths in 2014, while the second highest cause of death was circulatory diseases, which includes heart diseases and strokes, followed by respiratory diseases such as pneumonia

For females, the leading cause of death was dementia and Alzheimer disease, which accounted for 13.4 per cent of all female deaths

‘In 2015, the monthly death figures suggest that cold weather and flu may have played a part in the high numbers of deaths in the early part of the year.

'Especially given that A(H3N2) was the dominant subtype circulating last flu season in the UK. In any flu season dominated by an H3 subtype, unfortunately we can expect the burden of illness to be seen in the elderly and therefore a relatively high overall mortality. Changes in the population over time can also have some surprising effects on these statistics for technical reasons. It is important to keep an open mind.’

A Department of Health spokesperson said: ‘This is provisional data and our experts monitor deaths closely. Excess winter deaths can be due to a number of causes and deaths can fluctuate from year to year.

‘We will continue to monitor this data closely and be advised by experts on any action necessary.