THE number of people who died during the winter months on the West Coast fell last year, according to figures released by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).
The report compared the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) to those in the non-winter months.
In the NHS Highland area, there was an increase of 190 deaths during the winter of 2016/17, down from 290 the year before – which was nearly four times the 80 winter deaths in 2007/08. In the NHS Western Isles area, winter deaths fell to 30 in 2016/17 from 40 the year before, but way up from 10 in 2007/08.