How old will you live to be? Statistics reveal huge age gaps between parts of South Tyneside

People in the most deprived parts of South Tyneside could be missing out on up to 15 years of healthy life compared to their wealthier neighbours.

The scale of the gap between rich and poor has been laid bare in a new strategy to tackle to deal with some of the biggest care issues in the borough.

This revealed that the cost of managing long term conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes, to be £17m in the borough every year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The vast majority of NHS resources are spent on people with long-term conditions,” said Matt Brown, director of operations for South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

“You think it’s car crashes and heart attacks and strokes, but it’s actually much more about long-term conditions.”

Figures for South Tyneside showed people living in the most affluent communities could expect up to 15 years more healthy life free of life limiting conditions than those in the most deprived.

The Beacon and Bents ward of South Shields had the lowest male life expectancy, at 73.1, but they can expect to be considered ‘healthy’ for slightly longer than men in Simonside and Rekendyke, which had a healthy life expectancy of 54.6, according to the Office National Statistics.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Hebburn North ward had the lowest female life expectancy at 77.4, while  women in Biddick and All Saints could expect just 55.2 healthy years.

Both genders can expect the longest lives if they live in Cleadon and East Boldon.

Across the borough, the average healthy life expectancy for a man is 59.4 compared to a national average of 63.4 – a gap of four years.

The picture is even worse for women in the borough, who can expect 58.8 healthy years against the national average of 63.8 – a gap of five years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, South Tyneside’s women can still expect to live longer overall.

“Long-term conditions are not going to be cured,” Mr Brown told a recent (Tuesday, May 21) meeting of South Tyneside Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Coordinating and Call-in Committee.

“A lot of people go to hospitals and GPs looking for a cure, but long-term conditions are quite different and most people are going to be dealing with them for the rest of their lives.

“The challenge is how do we delay their development and how do we manage those conditions so their impact is lower over the years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We have to think about the causes – a lot are choices, but a lot aren’t necessarily determined by the individual, it’s down to the environment they live in, their income, their education.”

Mr Brown added it was important for ‘partners’, such as the council, to help address the ‘causes of the causes’ of such conditions.

Data also showed up to 70 per cent of premature deaths in South Tyneside are caused by ‘behaviours that can be changed’, such as smoking.

Plans are currently being worked on to improve access to ‘self care’ and improve the advice given to patients with more than one condition.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hebburn councillor John McCabe called for more initiatives aimed at children and young people to help prevent them developing conditions in the first place.

And Coun Geraldine Kilgour added patients with long term illnesses should not be referred to as a ‘burden’.

“It’s a challenge,” she said, “people with these conditions, yes they made life choices, but they didn’t make them setting out to become a burden.”

 

In numbers:

23% of people in South Tyneside are living with one or more long term conditions (LTC) which ‘severely impact’ their quality of life

90,000 with no LTC

30,000 with one LTC

18,000 with two LTCs

8,000 with three LTCs

8,000 with four or more LTCs

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

60-70 per cent  of premature deaths caused by behaviours that can be changed

20 per cent of households in South Tyneside living in economic deprivation

15 year healthy life expectancy gap between the most deprived and the most affluent communities in South Tyneside

£17m annual cost of secondary care to patients with LTCs

59.4 – years a man in South Tyneside can expect to live in good health free of illness or disability on average, compared to 63.4 across England

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

58.8 – years a woman in South Tyneside can expect to live in good health, compared to 63.8 across England

77.7 – South Tyneside male life expectancy at birth (compared to 79.6 England average)

81.7 – South Tyneside female life expectancy at birth (compared to 83.1 England average)

Male life expectancy Vs healthy life expectancy

Beacon and Bents 73.1 – 54.7

Bede ` 74.6 – 55.7

Biddick and All Saints 76.5 – 54.9

Boldon Colliery 78.5 – 60.9

Cleadon and East Boldon 82.6 – 70.2

Cleadon Park 76.6 – 57.6

Fellgate & Hedworth 78 – 60.6

Harton 76.9 – 60.8

Hebburn North 74.6 – 57.5

Hebburn South 76.1 – 59

Horsley Hill 79 – 62.1

Monkton 75.2 – 58.1

Primrose 75.7 – 54.8

Simonside and Rekendyke 74.7 – 54.6

West Park 79.3 – 60.9

Westoe 76.8 – 61.3

Whitburn and Marsden 78.6 – 62.5

Whiteleas 76 – 57.2

 

Female life expectancy Vs healthy life expectancy

Beacon and Bents 80.9 – 59.3

Bede ` 80.5 – 56.8

Biddick and All Saints 79 – 55.2

Boldon Colliery 82.1 – 63.1

Cleadon and East Boldon 87.3 – 70.6

Cleadon Park 84 – 60.4

Fellgate & Hedworth 80.8 – 60.3

Harton 82.4 – 62.9

Hebburn North 77.4 – 57.9

Hebburn South 83.4 – 61.7

Horsley Hill 86.3 – 64

Monkton 80.3 – 60.9

Primrose 77.8 – 56.3

Simonside and Rekendyke 79.4 – 55.9

West Park 84.4 – 63.4

Westoe 79.5 – 63

Whitburn and Marsden 85.4 – 64.3

Whiteleas 79.6 – 59

 

James Harrison

James Harrison , Local Democracy Reporting Service