FOUR people a week died needlessly over a three-year time frame in Test Valley, according to new figures released.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) found 628 avoidable deaths in the borough in the years 2014 to 2016, where they could have been ‘preventable’ through public health interventions or ‘amenable’ (treatable) with good quality healthcare.

In the area served by West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), the death rate averaged at 84.3 per 100,000 people for mortalities considered treatable, which the CCG said is well below the national average which is at 123.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2016.

Dr Sarah Schofield, chair of West Hampshire CCG said: “People are living longer healthier lives in the West Hampshire CCG area, which is good news and is reflected by the low number of amenable deaths across the area – for instance we have the third lowest rate of amenable deaths for men across the country.

“Research figures from the ONS placed West Hampshire CCG well below the national average of amenable deaths.

“We continue to develop innovative healthcare for local people in relation to the three highest causes of amenable deaths - heart, cancer and respiratory services.”

More avoidable deaths however were attributed to being ‘preventable’ through public health interventions, with the top three causes of this being neoplasms (cancers and other non-cancerous tissue growths), cardiovascular diseases and injuries in England.

Hampshire County Council, which runs public health initiatives across its boroughs, said the county’s mortality rate is “continuously decreased”.

Councillor Patricia Stallard, county council executive member for public health, said: “Overall, the Hampshire mortality rate from causes considered preventable has continuously decreased over time, and is consistently lower than the national and regional rates.

“The county council’s work in this area is aiming to further reduce the causes, focusing on all the factors that influence good health, including education, employment, housing and our local environment.

“For those Hampshire residents who need further support to improve their health and wellbeing, a number of lifestyle behaviour change services, such as help to give up smoking and lose weight, have been commissioned by the county council.”

In 2016 nearly a quarter of deaths in the UK were considered to be avoidable.