A new report highlights how chronic pain, alcohol problems, COPD and cardiovascular disease are the key conditions which account for the huge inequality which makes the North East the least healthy region in England.
Research from the Health Foundation highlights how the four illnesses play a worrying role contributing to our area having the poorest life expectancy in the country. The charity - which works to analyse and improve health in the UK - has urged a "joined up approach to health" from whoever becomes the next Prime Minister.
The research "adds to the evidence of a north-south health divide", the charity said. It offered examples showing that a 60-year-old man living in the most deprived areas of England - and the North East has the highest proportion of such areas - would live an astonishing nine years less than those in areas of the East of England.
The report reads: "People living in the North East and North West regions of England have the highest health care needs, in part due to higher levels of chronic pain, alcohol problems, COPD and cardiovascular disease. These four conditions account for 83% of the inequality in diagnosed illness between the North East (highest) and the East of England (lowest)."
The Health Foundation also highlights that the health of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black Caribbean people was, on average, worse than that of other ethnic groups - showing further how race and deprivation contribute to ill health. The report continues: "Our analysis adds to a growing body of evidence that health outcomes for disadvantaged groups are dramatically worse across a number of measures, with poorer people living shorter lives in greater discomfort due to ill health."
Jo Bibby, a Health Foundation director, added: "The NHS wasn’t set up to carry the burden of policy failings in other parts of society. A healthy, thriving society must have all the right building blocks in place, including good quality jobs, housing and education. Without these, people face shorter lives, in poorer health. This has a big economic impact, with many older workers now leaving the labour market due to ill-health.
"Both leadership candidates have committed to taking forward the levelling-up agenda, including the commitment to improve life expectancy in the most deprived areas - but this can only be achieved via concerted action across practically every government department."
The North East has the highest rates of alcohol-related illness in the country, while NHS figures in the region have recently emphasised that public health here is "way behind" other areas. As it came into existence in July, the new North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it would look to tackle the issue by encouraging joined-up working, raising standards, and "moving beyond treating illness to preventing ill-health".
The national government has described tackling health inequalities as a priority, setting up the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to "focus on improving the nation’s health so that everyone can expect to live more of life in good health, and on levelling up health disparities to break the link between background and prospects for a healthy life".
Rishi Sunak has said he would put the NHS on a "war footing", if Conservative Party members make him the next Prime Minister, while Liz Truss has claimed she would tackle health service backlogs by stopping what she called an "exodus" of doctors.
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