Hypothermia deaths increase as energy prices go up

The number of cases of people dying from hypothermia in the last five years has almost doubled, it has emerged.

Reports that 260 victims of low body temperature had lost their lives in 2010 to 2011 have led to renewed calls for energy bills to be cut.

The number is up from 135 people who died from the condition between 2006 and 2007.

Those over 60 hospitalised with the condition also rose over five years from 633 to 1,396 and around three million older people in the UK now find themselves in fuel poverty.

Defined as spending 10% or more of a household's disposable income, fuel poverty is an increasing problem.

Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director of Age UK, told the Daily Mail: "We like to think of ourselves as a civilised society which protects the most vulnerable. The fact that there are still older people who are suffering and dying of hypothermia is deeply shocking."