North-South divide growing in terms of life expectancy

Babies born in the UK today will live on average four years longer than 20 years ago but those in more affluent areas will have significantly longer lives and the gap is growing.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a boy from upmarket Kensington and Chelsea can expect to survive for more than 13 years longer than peers in Glasgow.

The gap in the period 2008-10 has widened by a year since it was last measured four years before.

On average, life expectancy at birth has gone up from 77 years to 78.2 for men in the UK, including 77.7 in Yorkshire, and from 81.3 years to 82.3 for women, including 81.8 in Yorkshire.

Differences within the region have also widened. In Hull, a boy born in 2008-10 can expect to live 75.7 years, up by nearly three years on 1991-93. But in Hambleton in North Yorkshire, a boy born today can expect to live 81.0 years, up nearly six years on 1991-93.

A baby girl born in Craven or Hambleton in 2008-10 can expect to live 84.2 years, up more than four years on 1991-93, compared with a girl in Hull who will live 80.2 years, up two over the period.

Ministers yesterday claimed the increasing division was evidence of major failings by Labour in tackling health inequalities although coalition plans to change the NHS spending formula will see deprived areas lose millions as money is switched to wealthier parts.

The figures show London has seen the greatest overall improvement in life expectancy in the four years to 2008-10. Differences have been linked to a string of social factors including differing lifestyles; alcohol and smoking; levels of deprivation; availability of local services; and social class and status.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Health inequalities widened to their greatest ever under Labour, which is why we have been taking urgent action to reverse this trend.

“This includes the introduction of a ring-fenced public health budget which will ensure more resources are channelled to the most deprived areas.”

Shadow Health Minister Diane Abbott said changes to NHS funding would push spending in England away from the poorer areas towards richer parts.

“These new figures make the recent warning by over 400 senior doctors and public health experts that the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill will widen inequalities even more important,” she said.

“The Government is taking the ‘N’ out of the NHS and consigning parts of the country to a massive postcode lottery.”

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the figures should send a “stark warning” to a Government “intent on forcing people to retire far later”.

“Ministers need to look beyond their constituencies and realise that rapidly accelerating the state pension age may sound sensible for the wealthy elite in Kensington and Chelsea but is a frightening prospect to millions of people living further north,” he said.

Ros Altmann, director of the Saga Group which caters for the over 50s, called for improved access to care.

“It is of great concern to see a growing gap in life expectancy between north and south Britain, especially at the moment, when policymakers seem to be assuming that longer life expectancy is a reality for all,” she said.