Health inequalities in England are worsening, new figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest.
Statistics released last week showed a growing gap in the years spent in ‘good’ health between the most and least deprived communities of England.
There is a gap of 19 years in the healthy life expectancy between males born in England’s most and least deprived areas in 2020-2022.
The figures show that, in the most deprived areas, males can expect 51.1 years of good health, compared with 70.1 years for those in the most affluent. For females, the gap was 19.7 years – 50.5 years compared to 70.2 years.
As a proportion of total life expectancy, men in the poorest areas spent 70.4% of their lives in good health, compared to 84.5% in the richest areas. Women in the most deprived areas spent 65.1% of their lives in good health, compared to 81.5% in the least deprived.
Life expectancy in the most deprived areas of England also fell when compared with the pre-pandemic period of 2017-2019.
The latest figures show life expectancy in the most deprived areas decreased by 1.4 years for males to 72.6 years. That compares to 83 years for men in the most affluent areas. For females, life expectancy fell by 1.1 years in the most deprived areas to 77.7 years – in the most affluent areas, this was 86.1 years.
Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, described the figures as ‘worrying but sadly unsurprising’.
She said: ‘While we must remember that this data covers the period of the Covid pandemic, it is deeply disappointing to see drops in both life expectancy at birth and a widening of the gap in healthy life expectancy between people in the richest and poorest areas.’
Dr McCay said health leaders supported the government’s commitment to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas.
And she welcomed moves in the government’s 10-year plan to address health inequalities in England by focusing on the social, economic and commercial determinants of health.
‘The government’s ambition to shift from sickness to prevention aligns with this goal of preventing the onset of long-term physical and mental health conditions and helping those with chronic conditions to improve their health. This will be key to improving people’s health and positively impacting healthy life expectancy,’ said Dr McCay.
The figures for Wales were similar, with males in the most deprived areas expected to spend 70.2% of their lives in good health compared with 83.6% in the least deprived areas. For females, these figures were 61.5% and 80.7%, respectively.
