Gateshead and County Durham Highlight Stark North East Life Expectancy Divide

The region’s worst locations for life expectancies for men and women have been identified, according to a NHS report.

Transcript

00:00The region's worst locations for life expectancies for men and women have been

00:04identified according to an NHS report. Gateshead has been found to have the

00:09worst life expectancy for men in the Northeast whereas County Durham has the

00:13worst lifespan for women. The report found males in Gateshead can expect to

00:18live on average to just 76.5 years as compared to the national average of 79.3

00:23years whereas women in County Durham can expect a life expectancy of just 80.8

00:29years around two years shorter than the national average. According to the new

00:33figures people living in Northumberland have the highest life expectancy in the

00:38region with the average for women being 82.3 and for men 78.8. Having said this

00:44Gateshead director of Public Health Alice Wiseman warns that babies born in the

00:49same hospital on the same day can face over 10 years difference in life

00:54expectancy based purely on where they grew up. She stresses that factors like

00:59housing, education and work, what she calls the building blocks of health, play a

01:03pivotal role. Amanda Healy in County Durham points to the findings as a

01:07reminder of unfair and often avoidable differences. Wider analysis shows the

01:12region continues to trail England as a whole. Men in the Northeast now live on

01:17average 1.7 years less than their counterparts in the rest of England. Women 1.6

01:23years less and healthy life expectancy years lived without major illness

01:27hovers in the low 60s, falling short of UK averages. Experts have long warned of the

01:34North-South health divide fuelled by austerity, chronic illness and poor living

01:38conditions. While some national initiatives aim to close this gap, the

01:42challenge remains immense.