Summary
Health inequalities between the rich and poor in England are increasing, as discussed in ‘Tackling Inequalities in Life Expectancy in Areas with the Worst Health and Deprivation: Department of Health’ (HC 186).
The Department of Health has made a serious attempt to improve life expectancy in poorer areas of the country but will fail to reach targets set out in 2000 by 10% if current trends continue for 2010.
Life expectancy has increased overall but the gap between the national average and Government flagged areas with the worst health is widening.
Covering six regions, the Government’s spearhead areas are a fixed list of local authorities that make up 28% of the population. In 1995-97, this group was in the bottom fifth nationally for issues including: male and female life expectancy at birth and cancer mortality rate in under 75s.
Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are required to address health inequalities from within their general budgets and, therefore, it is not possible to identify how much money has been spent. The 62 PCTs managing spearhead areas had £230 more per head to spend than the PCTs in non-spearheads, but there is evidence that some of the extra money is absorbed by higher hospital costs in deprived areas.
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