Calls for investigation into why men in Northampton's most deprived area are still dying much sooner than others

Health inequalities across West Northants persist, a new report has confirmed.

By Sarah Ward

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

A newly elected Labour councillor is calling for an investigation into why men in the Castle ward of Northampton are dying almost 15 years earlier than those in the more affluent area of Brackley West.

Cllr Fartun Ismail will be asking the Reform UK administration at the meeting of the adult social care scrutiny committee later this month to try and get to the bottom of why men in the area died at the age of 72 on average, compared to men in Brackley who die on average age 87.

Life expectancy is recorded by the Office of National statistics and is calculated by registered deaths and population numbers. The average age across West Northants for men to live to is 79 years and women on average die aged 83.

The map in the latest report has remained unchanged from the previous year.

The health inequalities across Northants have long existed and for the past decade have not shifted, despite a proclaimed focus on the issue and a number of health initiatives. Yet the data being used in the latest public health annual report for 2024 - published earlier this month - is relying on census 2021, with the map unchanged from the 2023 report. This perhaps indicates the focus the authority’s public health team has put on the issue.

The local area partnerships that were set up a few years ago and concentrated on smaller geographical areas of West Northants have received criticism in terms of their impact and now appear to have been scaled back.

Cllr Ismail

Cllr Ismail said:

“This is shocking evidence of the health inequalities that persist in our council area despite the best efforts of health partners: almost 15 years difference in life expectancy for men, and six years for women in my ward and those in the most affluent areas.

“These are people who live just a few miles apart, yet have big differences in their life chances. We must act now to change these statistics and help everyone lead longer, healthier lives.”

The councillor is going to call for a three point course of action, involving an investigation to establish why some people in West Northants die so much earlier than others; a look at other local authorities which have managed to reduce their health inequality gap; and then a package of measures to address the issue. Coventry has been a frontrunner in tackling health inequality, reducing the number of areas which are socially deprived and helping people to live longer.

The departure of the authority’s director of adult social care Stuart Lackenby and the director of public health Sally Burns to Birmingham City Council has also left two large departments involved in health outcomes without a permanent director. Recruitment is taking place and replacements should be named soon.

In her outgoing public health report for 2024 Sallie Burns quotes Sir Chris Whitty, former chief medical officer, who said:

“We all age identically chronologically and eventually die, but biologically some people age substantially faster than others. This inequality in the rate of biological ageing is largely preventable and is affected by the social and economic environments that people live and work in.

“This can be seen by the significant gap in effective biological age experienced by those living in poverty and deprivation who experience multiple risk factors across the life course such as exposure to smoking, air pollution and access to green space, compared to those living in the least deprived areas.”

NN Journal has reported on various occasions about the health inequalities across the county. Read our report from 2021 here.