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Office for National Statistics figures have revealed how many extra people are dying this winter in Mansfield.

Across England, in the seven days to December 23 across England and Wales, it was revealed an extra 424 people were dying every day on average – with deaths up by 25.8 per cent compared with the average for the same week between 2015 and 2019.

In Mansfield, the figures show excess deaths were up 16.7 per cent in the last four weeks of 2022. In real terms, this means that 15 more people than average passed away during the period.

Altogether, over the whole of 2022, there was a total of 1,234 deaths in Mansfield – meaning 87 more people than the pre-Covid average died within the year.

There have been more excess deaths this winter than were recorded in the same period between 2015 and 2019.

Thousands of 111 calls 'abandoned' in Nottinghamshire over the festive period

The ONS data reveals far more people are currently dying than before the coronavirus pandemic.

In the last week before Christmas, the figures reveal the East Midlands’ excess death rate was up by more than 30 per cent.

Concerns have been mounting about the potentially deadly consequences of the crisis gripping the NHS this winter, which doctors have described as the worst they have ever experienced.

A map showing the increase in deaths across the country during the last week of December.

Hospitals have been dangerously busy over the Christmas period, thousands of callers have abandoned their attempts to contact NHS 111 amid levels of demand not seen since the start of the Covid pandemic, and tens of thousands of patients have faced delays at A&E.

Many health experts also theorise long waiting lists for elective care, or people having put off coming forward over conditions such as heart problems during the pandemic, are also playing into the rise in deaths.

Chris Thomas, Institute for Public Policy Research principal health fellow, said: “We saw that during the pandemic, where the places most likely to experience high levels of infection, or high levels of mortality tended to be places where health inequalities were higher.

“What we’ve probably seen is a bit of a reiteration of that in the last few weeks while we had that big infection of the flu and Covid-19 twindemic playing out, so I think it’s likely the kind of pressures we’ve seen in the NHS over the last few weeks through the winter are playing into this.”

Excess deaths: 15 extra people died in run up to Christmas in Mansfield amid NHS crisis