20,000 additional deaths have occurred in England and Wales in the first 16 weeks of the year.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics has compared numbers with the previous five years.
The spike in mortality rates has gone unanswered by the government health officials.
A 'killer flu' was initially singled out by statisticians as the cause of the additional deaths.
However, The Independent analysed the data to find influenza only accounted for a very small part of the spike.
The analysis noted government spending on health and social care was only increasing at a slow rate each year, with a huge number of national health measures for accurate statistics deteriorating.
Waiting times and NHS response targets were not being met due to a lack of resources, the analysis said.
The UK government's health select committee has called for an investigation.
Newshub.
