Healthy life expectancy varies ‘substantially’ between areas with similar income deprivation, a new report has found.
The research, called What would it take to halve the HLE gap by charity Nesta, analysed ONS data on healthy life expectancy and income deprivation levels.
While the research found people who live in places in England with higher-than-average incomes have almost seven years’ more healthy life expectancy than those in lower income areas, it also revealed that there is ‘substantial’ variation in places with similar deprivation levels.
For example, despite similar deprivation levels, the healthy life expectancy in Haringey and Lewisham differed by nearly six years (63.2 and 57.5 years respectively), while the Wirral and Barnsley differed by over six years (59.0 and 52.7 years respectively).
The report also looked at the Health Survey England to look at prevalence of specific health conditions. It suggested that the prevalence of common health conditions could help explain the healthy life expectancy difference between the areas, for example in Haringey and Lewisham, the obesity rates differ by nearly 10 percentage points.
The report’s author and senior policy advisor at Nesta, Jess Jenkins, said in these places income alone cannot explain the difference in healthy life expectancy.
‘You need to look at what’s going on locally to understand why the prevalence of conditions is lower, and why healthy life expectancy is so much better,’ she said.
‘It will be things like the type of work that people do, how tightly knit communities are, what the environment is like locally, even things like the demographics of the area will make a huge difference,’ added Ms Jenkins.
The report also referenced food environments, access to green spaces, quality of healthcare services and social isolation as factors contributing to the variation.
It said greater understanding of how some deprived areas achieve these better health outcomes would provide ‘valuable insights’ for improving health.
It added that tackling fundamental health inequalities needs to happen at ‘the national level’, through ensuring safe working environments and making healthy food more affordable and accessible.
‘While this government is attempting to show its commitment to NHS reform, achieving its pledge to halve the healthy life expectancy gap requires more,’ the report said.
‘It demands bold national action on root causes of health problems like musculoskeletal conditions and obesity, alongside a reimagined partnership between national and local health systems that provides intensive, tailored support to our most disadvantaged communities.’
It follows calls from the chief medical officer to pay more attention to young people’s health when planning and delivering healthcare services, alongside making changes to food environments and air pollution in cities across the UK.
