Wirral’s wealthiest live 11 years longer

Sep 22 2010 by Liam Murphy, Birkenhead News

Beer

WIRRAL’S wealthiest men live more than 11 years longer than those from the poorest parts of the borough according to a report by the local health authority.

Figures show Wirral has some of the widest gaps between areas in the same borough in England – and is falling further behind the rest of the country in overall life expectancy.

In her final report before retiring, Wirral’s Joint Director of Public Health, Marie Armitage, said men in Wirral’s most deprived areas live, on average, 11.6 years less than those in the most affluent – just six miles away – and women can expect to live 9.6 years less.

She said the life expectancy gaps affected much of Merseyside, but Wirral with its extremes between very affluent and very deprived areas show “very stark differences”.

The director said the PCT is working on tackling this through dealing with smoking, obesity and alcohol which cause many of the problems.

Her report is based on the regularly updated Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which compiles medical data from across the borough.

It shows that male life expectancy ranged from 68.3 years in Birkenhead to 79.9 years in Heswall, and female life expectancy ranged from 75.3 years in Birkenhead to 84.9 years in Bebington.

Wirral’s council leader Jeff Green slammed the differences between wealthy and deprived wards as “gross inequalities” and said: “After 13 years of a Labour Government the levels of health inequality are unacceptable. It remains a key priority for me and the council to address these.”