Guardian News and Media/London
Two-thirds of the 150,000 deaths a year among under-75s in England are potentially avoidable, with better health interventions and changes in lifestyles capable of cutting the toll by tens of thousands, according to the government’s new public health body.
Challenging the NHS and local authorities to improve the country’s international health rankings, Public Health England (PHE) published league tables for premature deaths in county council and unitary authority areas, and also ranked them by deaths from big killers including cancer, heart disease and strokes, and lung and liver disease.
The figures, covering 150 local authority areas, minus the City of London and Isles of Scilly, where there is not enough data, reveal premature death rates from cancer vary from 82.5 per 100,000 in Harrow, west London, to 152 per 100,000 in Manchester.
In Wokingham, Berkshire, early deaths from heart disease are 40.3 per 100,000 while in Manchester they are 116.
The difference for lung disease is, at worst, more than fourfold - 13.7 per 100,000 in Bromley, south London, and 62 in Blackpool, and for liver disease, 8.7 in Wiltshire and 39.3 in Blackpool.
Overall premature mortality is at its lowest in Wokingham - 200.3 per 100,000 and worst in Manchester, at 455.
The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said such “shocking variation” could not continue unchecked. “I want areas to use the data released to identify local public health challenges like smoking, drinking and obesity and to take action to help our ambition of saving 30,000 lives a year by 2020.”
Although health officials recognise local authorities have only just taken on a range of public health responsibilities and been given £5.46bn in ringfenced funding for them over the next two years they point out that many council-run services such as housing, transport and green spaces also bear on public health.
Individuals also could improve their own life chances by changing their behaviour.
John Newton, chief knowledge officer at PHE, said councils needed to get to grips with the problems urgently.
“Deaths in England under age 75 place us seventh out of 17 European countries for men and 15th for women, and must improve. For premature deaths caused by lung disease we are 16th, and figures for liver disease deaths are worsening, compared with European improvement.”
Zoe Patrick, who chairs the Local Government Association’s community wellbeing board, said the data must be used with caution.
“Using it out of context to create any sort of national league table dangerously oversimplifies matters and ignores the very complex socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect the premature mortality rate.”
Improving the public’s health was not the sole responsibility of local government and attempts to rank councils were “deeply troubling”, said Patrick.
“The reality is that in many cases it could take years before we see reductions in the number of those suffering with conditions like cancer or heart disease as a result of new public health initiatives.”