The Preventable Deaths Tracker is an evidence-based research tool created by Dr Georgia Richards and hosted at King’s College London.
Our mission is to harness information from coroners to minimise premature deaths by enabling learning and improving public safety.
Why is this important?
One in every five deaths are avoidable each year. Yet, there is no system in place to investigate these deaths.
The bereaved want lessons to be learnt following inquests so that others don’t experience the same loss. However, no database existed that enabled the systematic collection, analysis, and reporting of deaths following an inquest. The Preventable Deaths Tracker has changed that.
Our team
Dr Georgia Richards launched the Preventable Deaths Tracker in September 2020 while completing a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil/PhD) at the University of Oxford. She has been supported by experts in Evidence-Based Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Medicine, Pharmacy, Medico-Legal and Coronial Law.
Together, we’re a small, dedicated group of academics, scientists, epidemiologists, healthcare professionals, and a practising coroner.
How it all began
What we do
The Preventable Deaths Tracker provides the first and only centralised database of all coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports (PFDs) published in England and Wales. It makes information from coroners’ reports usable so that real-time analytics and research can be conducted. We:
- Conduct research,
- Educate the next generation,
- And build tools to improve the death investigation system.
Funding
The Preventable Deaths Tracker has no core funding. It’s currently self-funded by Dr Georgia Richards.
In 2020-2021, Dr Richards was awarded an Engagement and Dissemination grant (£795) and a Seedcorn grant (£2000) from NIHR SPCR to fund the initial web development. NIHR SPCR also funded two Summer Interns (2022, 2023) to work on the Tracker.
In June 2024, Dr Richards received the King’s Prize Fellowship from King’s College London to develop a research programme using the Preventable Deaths Tracker. Prior to this, all time spent improving and updating the databases and tools was voluntary and self-funded by Dr Richards.
The database is solely the responsibility of Dr Richards and does not represent the views of NIHR SPCR or King’s College London. Furthermore, the funders had no role in the design, management, methodological decisions, or review of the Preventable Deaths Tracker databases or its projects.
Support us
If you or your organisation can provide sustainable funding for the Preventable Deaths Tracker, please do get in contact: georgia.richards@kcl.ac.uk. Alternatively, you can support it by:
- downloading the databases,
- becoming a paid subscriber to the newsletter,
- sharing and citing the Preventable Deaths Tracker website.
You can also commission a bespoke analysis, webinar, podcast, or blog for you or your organisation.
With support, the Tracker could:
- Build interactive dashboards, making the Tracker more searchable and user-friendly.
- Enable open access to all tools and databases we’ve created.
- Provide training on how to use the Preventable Deaths Tracker.
- Respond faster to queries.
Contact us
For press and media queries, please get in touch with comms@kcl.ac.uk or +44 (0)771 146 6702.
For all other queries, contact Dr Georgia Richards at georgia.richards@kcl.ac.uk