Preventable Deaths Tracker

An evidence-based vigilance platform to learn lessons following death investigations

Led by Dr Georgia Richards at King’s College London, the Preventable Deaths Tracker (PDT) is the UK’s first centralised surveillance tool of coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports.

Despite over 113,000 avoidable deaths occurring annually in England and Wales, there is no system to systematically collect, analyse, and learn from these deaths in real-time, until now. The PDT’s tools help identify risks, support learning, drive accountability, and measure progress—but there is more to be done.

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Yearly average

From July 2013 to present

458

Mean number of coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports published each year.

0.4%

Percentage of PFDs compared with total avoidable mortality.

Year to date

From January 2026 to present

339

The number of coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports published thus far in 2026, where duplicates (i.e. deaths of the same individual) are reviewed and merged.

The Preventable Deaths Tracker’s (PDT) interactive dashboard allows you to filter information by date of report (up to 1 year), 12 coroner areas, five addressees, and one coroner, with options to download and save the outputs, which are safely stored for future use when logged into My Account.

These tools and statistics are free to use, but to help us keep tracking, a small fee (£0.50 per report) is charged for downloading data from the database (min £5 per download). See what the information will look like by downloading a Sample Report, and learn more about supporting us here.

My Account

to

Geography

Reports

From July 2013 to present

6402

Deaths

From July 2013 to present

6758

Published coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports in England & Wales where duplicate reports have been reviewed and merged.

Stay notified for these reports

We’ll send you a convenient link which remembers your search filters and you will receive notifications when related reports are updated or added

Completed

From July 2013 to present

64.7%

Reports with all published responses

Overdue

From July 2013 to present

21.6%

Reports without any published responses

Partial

From July 2013 to present

13.8%

Reports with some, but not all, required responses published

Organisations sent reports

From July 2013 to present

2348

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

Loss of life cost

From July 2013 to present

£17.7bn

UK Gov – Average appraisal value estimates per death (£ in 2023 prices)

Responses by addressees

Top 30 from July 2013 to present

Response status by year

From July 2013 to present

Responses by area

Top 30 from July 2013 to present

Responses by coroner

Top 30 from July 2013 to present

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.

Find out more

Features of the Preventable Deaths Tracker

Making information accessible and usable to save lives

The features and benefits of using the Preventable Deaths Tracker’s tools.

Judiciary website

The Chief Coroner’s Office manually publishes Prevention of Future Deaths (PFDs) reports and their responses as PDF files on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.

Preventable Deaths Tracker

The PDT automatically collects all published PFDs and responses from the Judiciary website, creating a searchable repository of over 14,000 digital files and a relational database that enables real-time statistics, analyses, and more.

Feature

Judiciary website

Preventable Deaths Tracker

Turns narrative information into structured data that’s stored in a relational database

Searchability of all PFDs since 2013

Searchability of all responses to PFDs since 2013

Filter by the date of the reports, not date of publication, providing accurate statistics

Filter by nations, regions and coroner areas

Filter by the name of individual coroners

Standardisation of addressee names to enable filtering by who were sent reports

Removal or merging of duplicate reports to ensure accurate statistics

Real-time insight into trends over time

Real-time tracking of responses to PFDs

Real-time statistics on the number of deaths, not just reports

Real-time statistics on the number of organisations sent PFDs

Real-time statistics on the economic impact of preventable deaths

Maps and data visualisations

Bespoke dashboards & surveillance tools

Ability to download data outputs

Ability to save outputs and re-run filters

Dynamic and specialised experts who can rapidly provide essential statistics, analyses and tools

Research from the Preventable Deaths Tracker

We conduct bespoke analyses and studies using coroners’ reports to identify trends and learning.

View our research

Impact of the Preventable Deaths Tracker

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

Discover our impact

22 October 2025 Campaigns | Government | Media | Parliament

Live on ITV News London

Findings from the report on fatal anaphylaxis and campaign was broadcasted by ITV.

Read article

15 January 2025 Articles | Media

Commissioned article for The Times

Dr Richards was commissioned to write a feature on the work of the Preventable Deaths Tracker for The Times.

Read article

23 May 2024 Inquiries | Parliament

Findings from the follow-up Inquiry to the Coroner Service

The Justice Committee featured the PDT’s work and our recommendations in their letter to the Ministry of Justice.

Read article

20 February 2024 Inquiries | Parliament

Evidence given in Parliament

Dr Richards gave oral evidence in Parliament to the Justice Select Committee’s follow-up inquiry to The Coroner Service.

Read article

Support the Preventable Deaths Tracker

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

Support the tracker