Derby's Health rates labelled ‘depressing’
Life expectancy in Derby for both males and females has continued to decline in recent years.
Derby’s current health picture has been labelled “depressing” as an alarming new report shows the city is performing “significantly worse” than the national average in key areas.
And there are fears the cost of living crisis could make things even worse over the coming months, with one activist stating the city must be ready for “survival mode”.
Derby is not the only city/town to be struggling but the grim overall picture has been highlighted to give a sense of the “scope of the challenge” which health bosses in the city are facing.
Officials presented the “Turning The Curve” report to councillors at a Derby City Council health and well-being board meeting on Thursday afternoon (July 28) which sparked a long debate on what could be done to improve things moving forward.
In summary, the report states that key health rates such as life expectancy, living in good health expectancy and child obesity figures are at worrying levels in Derby.
The report reveals the following information.
- Life expectancy in Derby for both males and females has continued to decline in recent years. A male born today can expect to live for 77.7 years and a female born today can expect to live for 81.5 years. The national average for males is around 79.0. The national average for females is around 83.0.
- In Derby, a male born today can expect to live for 57.7 years in good health and a female can expect to live 61.6 years in good health. These figures are lower than that of the England average for both males (63.1) and females (63.9).
- Derby has significantly higher rates of premature mortality (deaths under age 75) than both England and the East Midlands.
- Compared to England, Derby has a significantly greater proportion of children in Year 6 who are overweight or obese. The gap betweenl levels of overweight or obese children in England and Derby is continuing to widen. But figures show Derby is performing better than the national average for obese children in reception year.
- Derby has seen consistently higher rates of respiratory disease than both England and the East Midlands – although recent figures show this is declining in Derby.
Labour councillor John Whitby told the meeting: “It’s a really depressing report isn’t it? I was quite shocked. I knew that things were not going to be great but this (report) was pretty remarkable.
“Almost every single metric is really bad. Derby is behind the national average on just about everything.”
Work is ongoing by health bosses to determine why it is that Derby’s health picture is below than the national average. But it is widely known that the city is still recovering from the long term effects of the coronavirus pandemic and that a large part of the city’s population live in deprived areas.
This work is part of a project aimed to improved life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and health inequalities in Derby. Work is also taking place to reduce smoking and to increase the proportion of children and adults who are a healthy weight.
Liberal democrat councillor Danielle Lind feared that worse may still be to come due to the cost of living crisis. The Blagreaves councillor asked if the council could do some detailed “modelling” work which would deep-delve how the financial crisis could impact on Derby residents’ health in the months to come.
In response Paul Brookhouse from the Derby Poverty Commission said there needs to be both short term and long term work but stressed the city needs to be in “survival mode”.
He said: “There’s short term work and long term work. The reality is that the short term work is to make sure people survive the winter – because it is that challenging.
“I’ve worked out we need an additional £250,000 to do things like community meals and more debt advice, alongside other things. We’ve got to be in survival mode in the short term.”
Conservative councillor Roy Webb, cabinet member for health, said the council was working to meet the challenges head on.
He said: “There’s a lot of information (in the report) that would suggest there are activities that people could take up to reduce health inequalities – give up smoking, drinking and definitely give up drugs. Obesity is something that is going to be and continues to be a challenge.
“There are things we are actively doing to meet some of those challenges. But it does need people to come on board. If the curve keeps rising then there has to be other ways we can think of dealing with it. “