A report has laid bare the stark health inequalities that separate men and women living in different parts of the Harrogate district.

Councillors in the Harrogate borough met this week to discuss an annual health report written by North Yorkshire County Council’s director of public health, Louise Wallace.

The report draws on government public health data that breaks down average life expectancy levels by council ward boundary.

These figures show that men in Bilton Woodfield live, on average, until 74 whereas just a few miles away in Oatlands they live to 87.

Bilton Woodfield is the most deprived ward in Harrogate whereas the Oatlands ward includes some of the most expensive streets in Yorkshire, including Fulwith Mill Lane.

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Ms Wallace said there is a higher prevalence of factors such as smoking in more deprived areas and that employment types and education can contribute to the differences in life expectancy.

The data also reveals that women live to 91 in Claro, which includes villages north of Knaresborough. However, in Knaresborough Eastfield the average life expectancy for females is far lower at 78.

The average life expectancy for men in England is 79 and for women it’s 83.

Improving lifestyles

The report also said the number of higher risk drinkers in England has increased since the pandemic, with the heaviest drinkers and those in lower socioeconomic groups increasing their consumption the most.

John Mann, Conservative councillor for Pannal, asked Ms Wallace what the council is doing to help people stop drinking and drug-taking in the Harrogate district.

He said:

“I’m interested in reducing excessive drinking, I mean we all like a drink, but some people go to excess which is not good for you. 

“Drinking at home or socially is a bit addictive and does affect family life and career progression and health.”

Ms Wallace said the council is currently drafting a new alcohol strategy to replace the previous document from 2014-2019. 

She added:

“When people need support around alcohol we have a commissioned service with Horizons but we need to get some whole population messages out there. 

“You’re absolutely right for the potential of excessive  drinking and what that might mean. We’re seeing an increase in alcohol-related admissions or illnesses as a result of excessive alcohol use.”

Men live 10 years longer in Harrogate than Knaresborough, according to a new report.

The North Yorkshire Director of Public Health annual report 2021-22, published today, shows male life expectancy in Harrogate is 85 compared with 75 in Knaresborough.

Women live on average to be 87 in Harrogate and 79 in Knaresborough. In Ripon, men and women live on average to 79 and 84 respectively.

The commentary in the report suggests the difference is down to deprivation. It says:

“Large parts of North Yorkshire have better than average life expectancy when compared with England as a whole. However, there are areas where life expectancy is worse, particularly in Scarborough, but also in parts of Selby, Harrogate and Richmondshire.

“The gap in life expectancy between our most deprived and least deprived wards can be as much as 11 years for men and 10 years for women.

An image from the report showing life expectancy.

The report says there was a “marked decrease in life expectancy between 2019 and 2020 for both England and Yorkshire and Humber”, adding:

“This has improved slightly for 2021, but the longterm impact of the pandemic on mortality is yet to be fully determined.”

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In a section on ‘lessons learned’ the report says the rural nature of North Yorkshire presented challenges responding to covid.

It says:

“For North Yorkshire in particular, we learned to adapt our response to the pandemic to ensure that the rural nature of large parts of the county did not create additional barriers to access covid support.

“For example, we had to adapt the standard covid testing model of having a small number of large testing centres in urban areas to provide multiple mobile options that could travel across the county to rural areas.

“Similar issues were seen with access to vaccination sites; more sites opened up across the county as the pandemic progressed, but additional services eg voluntary transport provision were required to expand access to those unable to travel, and weekend clinics were added to help enable working age population to attend.”

Report author Louise Wallace, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, said in her foreword:

“The pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of everyone in North Yorkshire. The ways in which we work, interact, travel, socialise, learn, live, bring new life, experience illness, loss, and death, have all been affected.

“However, there remain parts of our population who experience more than their fair share of the burden of these impacts, with the pandemic only widening pre-existing inequalities across our society.”