Preventable Deaths Tracker

A national vigilance platform to learn lessons following inquests

One in five deaths are avoidable each year – that’s over 125,000 in England and Wales. Yet, there was no system in place to collate, track, or learn from these deaths. The Preventable Deaths Tracker is changing this.

The Preventable Deaths Tracker is an evidence-based vigilance and learning tool that monitors deaths reported by coroners. It is led by Dr Georgia Richards at King’s College London. 

Total reports

From July 2013 to present


5553

Published coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports in England and Wales.

Yearly average

From Jan 2014 to end 2024


428

Mean number of reports published each year, for full calendar years.

Value of loss

From July 2013 to present


£14.5bn

Value of a Prevented Fatality (VPF) set by the UK Government using 2023 prices.

Geography

From July 2013 to present

Reports Heatmap Heatmap of the report frequencies for coroner areas Greater Manchester South (464) London Inner North (289) West Sussex, Brighton and Hove (177) Surrey (167) Birmingham and Solihull (169) London East (162) Greater Manchester West (116) Nottinghamshire (121) South Wales Central (129) Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (121) Norfolk (116) Greater Manchester North (126) County of Devon, Plymouth & Torbay (106) Yorkshire West Eastern (114) County Durham and Darlington (109) Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (117) Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton (92) Yorkshire West Western (88) London Inner South (139) The Black Country Jurisdiction (85) Yorkshire South West (90) Avon (97) Essex (82) London Inner West (79) Bedfordshire and Luton (73) London North (66) Leicester City and South Leicestershire (74) Cumbria (71) London West (57) Suffolk (71) Derby and Derbyshire (59) Liverpool and the Wirral (68) North Wales (East & Central) (100) Greater Lincolnshire (67) Kent Mid and Medway (62) Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen (55) Manchester City (65) Berkshire (66) Cheshire (51) Worcestershire (68) Yorkshire South East (50) Milton Keynes (72) Dorset (67) Blackpool and Fylde (51) Wiltshire and Swindon (53) Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (48) London South (44) Gwent (43) Warwickshire (34) Northamptonshire (36) Kent Central and South East (30) East Riding of Yorkshire and Kingston-upon-Hull (36) Gloucestershire (38) Oxfordshire (31) Hertfordshire (32) Newcastle and North Tyneside (36) Sunderland (43) Coventry (26) Kent North East (22) East Sussex (27) Somerset (28) North Yorkshire and York (29) Northumberland (21) Buckinghamshire (23) Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (25) Teesside and Hartlepool (22) Swansea and Neath Port Talbot (28) North West Wales (22) Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire (22) Rutland and North Leicestershire (12) Kent North West (10) Herefordshire (15) Isle of Wight (19) London City (15) Gateshead and South Tyneside (11) Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens (6) Ceredigion (1) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 378

Organisations sent reports


2112

Number of individuals or organisations listed as addressees on coroners’ reports

Completed


47.0%

Reports with all published responses

Overdue


39.8%

Reports without any published responses

Partial


11.7%

Reports with some, but not all, required responses published

Pending


1.5%

Reports within 56 days of requiring a response, so responses are not yet due

About the Preventable Deaths Tracker

Our mission is to save lives by enabling learning from avoidable deaths. We build tools, conduct research, and educate the next generation.

6 January 2025 Research articles

Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Deaths reported by coroners in people with autism published in the Journal of Adult Protection.

1 December 2023 Research articles

Opioids

Deaths reported by coroners involving strong pain medicines published in the Journal of Public Health.

11 December 2023 Research articles

Sepsis

Deaths reported by coroners from sepsis published in Infection.

21 December 2021 Research articles

Covid-19 pandemic

Deaths reported by coroners during the COVID-19 pandemic until June 2021 published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

Impact of the Preventable Deaths Tracker

We engage with the justice and healthcare systems, media, and policymakers to improve the death investigation system.

22 January 2025 Parliament

Address to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Patient Safety

Dr Richards delivered a talk to the APPG on Patient Safety to share the work of the PDT.

15 January 2025 Articles | Media

Commissioned article for The Times

Dr Richards was commissioned to write a feature on the work of the PDT and how the death investigation system…

23 May 2024 Parliament

Findings from the follow-up Inquiry to the Coroner Service

The Justice Committee featured the work of the PDT and our recommendations to Parliament in their letter to the Minister.

25 September 2024 Articles

Feature in The BMJ

The work of the PDT was published in The BMJ’s feature article on inquests, making the front cover.

Support the Preventable Deaths Tracker

If you or your organisation can provide sustainable funding for the Preventable Deaths Tracker, please do get in contact.

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