Poorest die 10 years earlier in ‘wealthy’ borough
Health gap between Solihull communities laid bare in report
MEN born into Solihull’s most deprived communities will on average die more than a decade before those from the least deprived backgrounds, a new report suggests.
The figures show the typical life expectancy for a man from the most impoverished group is 73.5 years, compared with 86.1 years for those who have suffered the least from deprivation.
The gap between women is only slightly less dramatic – a woman from the most deprived background will, on average, live to 79.5 – which is still almost ten years less than the 89.4 years expected for those in the most comfortable circumstances.
The yawning health gap between people living in the same borough was laid bare in Solihull Council’s Public Health Annual Report, which was published this month.
Dr Stephen Munday, director of public health, acknowledged that although people were living “longer, healthier lives”, the divide within the borough remained a cause for concern.
“The health of some of our residents is significantly below an acceptable level. Premature deaths, poor health and disability still disproportionately affect some parts of our community,” he said.
As one of the country’s most affluent council areas, Solihull’s overall population has a high level of health and performs well in key areas.
When it comes to early cancer diagnosis, for example, the report notes that it is among the nation’s top performing local authorities. However, for years the borough has grappled with a major gulf in living standards among communities just a few miles apart.
In particular there are significant pockets of deprivation clustered in the so-called Regeneration wards of Chelmsley Wood, Smith’s Wood and Kingshurst & Fordbridge.
Aside from dramatically reduced life expectancy, longterm health conditions and chronic illness tend to develop earlier in these neighbourhoods.
Councillor James Burn (Green, Chelmsley Wood) described the situation as “a real scandal” and said the council needed to prioritise building more affordable housing and helping create more, better-paid jobs in order to drive down the wider inequality which he argued was at the heart of the problem.
“Either we pretend that poor health is a consequence of an entire community making ‘poor choices’ or we accept decades of evidence and research from around the world that show communities that aren’t in poverty don’t tend to have poor health,” he said.
Dr Richard Mendelsohn, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “We know that 15-20 per cent of the life expectancy gap can be directly influenced by healthcare interventions; therefore we are absolutely committed to reducing unacceptable health inequalities throughout Birmingham and Solihull.
“As we create the new CCG from April 2018, working in partnership with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, we are improving access to healthcare and are prioritising a number of evidence-based and targeted health care interventions to reduce this gap.”
Better control of conditions such as high blood pressure and initiatives to tackle unhealthy behaviour such as smoking will be central to these efforts.
The health of some of our residents is significantly below an acceptable level Dr Stephen Munday