Early death league table revealed for England

[Graham]

Early death league table revealed for England
10 June 2013 Last updated at 23:59
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22844227
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An early death rates league table for England has been published by Public Health England.

Figures for the north-west are among the worst, with Manchester, Blackpool, Liverpool and Salford having the most people dying before the age of 75.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the variation in rates was "shocking".

The table is part of a new Longer Lives website, which is designed to help councils tackle the health problems in their area.

In April they became responsible for encouraging people to stop smoking, eat better, drink less alcohol and face up to other public health problems.

Regions doing significantly worse that the national average are marked red; those doing better are marked green.

Preventable

Around 153,000 people die prematurely each year in England, with three quarters of those deaths down to cancer, heart attack or stroke, lung disease and liver disease.

Prof John Newton, from Public Health England, said: "It is not inevitable that all these people are dying; we know that other countries are doing better than us.

"The message for local authorities is there are a large number of people dying before they should, that there are things that can be done, we have evidence that we are able to address this and that there is big variation across the country."

He said the premature mortality figures had improved, but the UK was still seventh out of 17 European countries for men and 15th for women.

Socio-economic background plays a large part in life expectancy and is part of the explanation of the north-south divide.

The new tool allows councils to compare themselves with others with a similar background.

York is classed as a "least deprived" area and appears green at a national level; yet it comes bottom when compared with other "least deprived" regions.

Waltham Forest in London is in the 15 most deprived areas, yet ranks 73rd out of 150 councils.

Of the early deaths, 103,000 are classed as preventable. The hope is that councils can learn from each other to reduce deaths in their area.



Commenting on the figures, the Health Secretary said: "This shocking variation in early and unnecessary deaths means people's lives are needlessly cut short, and that cannot continue unchecked.

"I want areas to use the data released today to identify local public health challenges like smoking, drinking and obesity and to take action to help achieve our ambition for saving 30,000 lives a year by 2020."

Local authorities are being given £5.4bn over two years for public health.

However, the Local Government Association said the tool would provide "useful insight," but it urged caution.

Cllr Zoe Patrick, chairwoman of the organisation's community wellbeing board, said: "Using it out of context to create any sort of national league table dangerously oversimplifies matters and ignores the very complex socio-economic and cultural factors that affect the premature mortality rate.

"Attempts to measure performance and rank councils in this way are therefore deeply troubling. Not to mention that improving the public's health is not the sole responsibility of local government. We need to work with our partners in the NHS, PHE and central government to address a whole range of inequalities and issues in order to help everyone lead healthier lives.

"The reality is that in many cases it could take years before we see reductions in the number of those suffering with conditions like cancer or heart disease as a result of new public health initiatives.

"Government must make a long-term commitment to public health and provide councils with the right resources if we are going to have a real impact."

[Lord Flasheart]

Are we still living longer than Glaswegians?