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The deadly health divide
EXCLUSIVE: A worrying picture of a growing health divide between rich and poor in Yorkshire is revealed today in a report which pledges action to tackle the huge toll of death and disease in deprived communities.
Reducing rates of strokes and diabetes are among key priorities of plans drawn up by health chiefs which will directly target the region's poor.
The moves, which NHS bosses say will take services to the "next level", come amid early signs gaps in life expectancy between Yorkshire's poorest areas and the rest of the region are widening despite massive investment in the NHS.
Shocking figures show life expectancy in the most deprived parts of Sheffield and Leeds is 10 years shorter than in wealthier areas just a few miles away.
The targets are likely to lead to further pressure for hugely controversial restructuring of services which will see more routine care delivered in GP practices and community hospitals but more complex treatment provided in regional centres instead of local hospitals.
Specialist trauma care for seriously injured patients, A&E services and maternity care will be among areas which will see a shake up. Already similar proposals have led to massive public opposition and are proving a major headache for Ministers.
The Yorkshire Post reveals the proposals today in the first of a six-part special report. As part of the plans, by 2010 health chiefs want to see:
• Life expectancy for all to rise by two years compared to 2003.
• Life expectancy for the poorest to rise by two-and-a-half years.
• 1,000 fewer deaths from heart disease before the age of 75.
• 1,550 fewer deaths from cancer before the age of 75.
• A fall in the proportion of diabetics going blind or suffering amputation by the age of 65.
• A fall in the rate of stroke.
• Deaths in infancy in poorest communities to fall by 10 per cent.
Margaret Edwards, chief executive of Yorkshire's strategic health authority, said the plans built on recent successes in treating heart disease and cancer and reducing waiting times.
Efforts would now focus on tackling chronic ill-health which hit poorer communities hardest.
She said: "We hope the public will agree dealing with chronic care and the public health concerns that lie behind the general health and wellbeing of people in Yorkshire and the Humber should be a priority for the NHS. We must take health and healthcare in the region to the next level.
"In some of our cities like Leeds and Sheffield there is a gap in life expectancy between rich and poor of 10 years. This is simply not acceptable. We know there are many contributory factors to life expectancy, but we are determined to take poor health care out of that equation."
She said as medical care advanced, changes to services were inevitable. If significant changes were needed full consultations would be carried out but officials would not "shy away from difficult decisions", she added.
Officials say they cannot make poorer areas more prosperous but want to eliminate poor health provision which leave those in deprived communities to die younger.
Despite billions of pounds of new NHS investment, they are concerned life expectancy in the region is not growing as fast as it is nationally while the gap between the region's seven poorest areas (Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Hull, North East Lincolnshire, Rotherham and Wakefield) and the rest of county is widening.
The targets will prioritise diabetes and stroke but also cover public health concerns such as infant mortality, sexual transmitted diseases and smoking.
Region's picture of ill-health
• Each year 1,800 more deaths under age of 75 than national average.
• Baby deaths in region over 40 a year higher than national average.
• 10,000 people die from smoking-related diseases each year.
• Baby boy born in Heavy Woollen district three times more likely to die before first birthday than one in Ryedale.
• Over 12,000 pregnant women smoke.
• Second highest number of pensioners in England struggling with fuel bills
• 8, 000 more strokes each year diagnosed in region than national average.
• Stroke care costs 700m each year.
• Rates of sexually transmitted infections rising.
• Latest figures show gonorrhoea higher in Yorkshire than anywhere in England except London.
• Rates of chlamydia were 229 per 100,000 compared with a national rate of 174.
NHS workers to hold protests across country
Nurses, doctors, hospital cleaners and other health workers will join a series of protests across the country today to protest at cuts to NHS jobs and services.
Marches and rallies will be held in dozens of cities including Sheffield, Leeds London, Belfast, Manchester and Birmingham.
The events are being co-ordinated by NHS Together, an alliance of unions and other organisations representing staff working in the NHS, as well as the TUC. The union also wants to use the protests to fight the "rapid expansion" of the private sector and reforms.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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