Liverpool Council's health boss has blamed the effects of a decade of austerity for the city's sliding life expectancy.
A report discussed by members of the health and adult social care select committee yesterday revealed that the city's life expectancy is the sixth lowest in the country.
A man born in the city today can expect to live to 76.1 years, while a woman would be expected to live to 80.2 years, well below the England average.
Cabinet member for health Paul Brant told committee members that pressured budgets across council , public health and NHS budgets have had severe consequences for health in Liverpool.
He said multiple health indicators in the city , already lagging behind England as a whole, had actually moved futher away from national averages.
They include infant mortality, which has gone up by 16% since 2010.
Councillor Brant said: "There are some really worrying trends here.
"If you look at the life expectancy figures and a number of others they have actually got worse.
"Austerity is clearly having an effect on the health of our city and that's something all of us are having to grapple with."
The city's public health director Sandra Davies said austerity had put pressure on multiple parts of the health service.
Responding to a question from Lib Dem leader Richard Kemp about adaptations that services would need to make in the face of continuously pressurised budgets, Ms Davies said major shifts would be needed to improve the health of the city's population.
Ms Davies said: "The clear message I am getting across the system is that we cannot continue doing things as we have done them before."
As well as the gap between Liverpool as a whole and the rest of the country, the report also raised concerns about the inequality within the city.
It said: "There are striking inequalities in life expectancy within Liverpool, which have widened in recent years.
"For 2016-18, there was a 12 year gap in life expectancy across our electoral wards from 85 years in Church ward to 73 years in Kirkdale ward.
As well as having poor life expectancy, Liverpool has the third highest health deprivation score in the country, with only Blackpool and neighbouring Knowsley having worse scores.
