Alarm over North-South health divide

Warning over a ‘faltering’ nation and ‘flatlining’ life expectancy since 2010

“FLATLINING” LIFE expectancy and worsening health inequalities between the North and South over the past 10 years have led an expert to declare a “lost” decade in England.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot said the rise in life expectancy had “slowed dramatically” since 2010, while health inequalities were widening between the most and least deprived parts of the country.

The new report, Health Equity In England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On, found an increase in the North-South health gap, with the largest decreases in life expectancy seen in the most deprived 10 per cent of neighbourhoods in the North-East, and the largest increases in the least deprived 10 per cent of neighbourhoods in London.

It also found that life expectancy in men had risen by about half a year from 79.01 in 2010-12 to 79.56 in 2016-18, while in women it rose by about a third of a year from 82.83 to 83.18 during the same period.

Prof Marmot said that this compared to life expectancy generally improving by about one year every four years for a century up until 2010.

The difference in life expectancy at birth between the richest 10 per cent and the poorest 10 per cent of the population was 9.5 years for men and 7.7 years for women in 2016-18, up from 9.1 and 6.8 respectively in 2010-12, the report added.

Prof Marmot said: “England is faltering. From the beginning

of the 20th century, England experienced continuous improvements in life expectancy but from 2011 these improvements slowed dramatically, almost grinding to a halt.”

He added: “England has lost a decade. Pretty much – with a few dips and bounces – life expectancy improved about one year every

Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

four years from the end of the 19th century until 2010, then it slowed down dramatically.

“If health has stopped improving, that means society has stopped improving and if health inequalities continue and in fact increase, that means inequalities in society have been increasing.

“A similar lost decade would mean continuing worsening of health inequalities and continued flatlining of life expectancy.”

The report estimated that the cost of failing to tackle these issues would be about £82 billion a year in lost taxes, higher welfare payments and increased NHS and social care costs.

It called on the Government to reduce child poverty to 10 per cent, reduce “poor quality, lowpaid and insecure” work, make sure the national living wage and benefits give people the minimum needed for a healthy life, and invest more in the most deprived areas.

The report said that child poverty after housing costs had risen from 27 per cent in 2010-11 to 30 per cent in 2017-18, while among single parents not in work, 70 per cent of children were in poverty.

Prof Marmot said that while poverty was an issue, austerity had taken its toll on equity and health.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I thank Professor Sir Michael Marmot for his dedicated work to shine a light on this vital issue.

“His findings show just how important this agenda is, and renew my determination to level up life expectancy across our country. After all, levelling up health is the most important levelling up of all.”

The findings renew my determination to level up life expectancy.