'Elderly deaths were unnecessary'

Damp conditions can also contribute to circulatory diseases

A charity for older people has said hundreds of people died in the South West last winter because of the cold.

Help The Aged said more than 2,300 people died unnecessarily in the region because many of them were having to choose between heating and eating.

More than one fifth of the older population being forced to choose between food and warmth during the colder months, the charity claims.

The government has announced a new payment to help keep older people warm during the winter.

The money is helpful - but Britain still has one of the world's worst rates of 'excess winter deaths' Mervyn Kohler, Help the Aged

Help The Aged released the figures as part of a national campaign to cut the death toll.

It said other factors that caused winter deaths included housing, with older people tending to live in pre-war housing which was the hardest to heat and most difficult to insulate.

It added that cold, damp housing also contributed to circulatory diseases.

Last week, the government announced that around two million households around the country with someone over 80 will be eligible to get an extra £100 on top of the standard £200 winter fuel payment.

Most vulnerable

Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks said: "We are winning the cold war for pensioners: helping them heat their homes, protecting older people from winter-related illnesses, and improving central heating and insulation for the most vulnerable."

But Mervyn Kohler, from Help the Aged, said: "The money is helpful. But, despite this provision, Britain still has one of the world's worst rates of 'excess winter deaths' - 21,800 last year.

"Cold, damp homes are a key reason for this, and the programmes providing a remedy are making desperately slow progress.

"The National Audit Office commented that one third of the fuel poor were not eligible for the scheme and two thirds of eligible households are not fuel poor. Only 14% of the grants reached the least energy efficient households."

Anyone aged 80 or over on or before 21 September, 2003 is eligible for the new 80 plus annual payment.

People aged 60 or over on or before 21 September, 2003 should qualify for a winter fuel payment.

Most eligible people will get their payment automatically, the government says.