January 2015
Public Health England has just updated the Segment Tool which provides information on inequalities in life expectancy at local authority level. This tool helps to identify causes of death that contribute most to their life expectancy gaps and thus enable targets to be set for interventions to reduce health inequalities.
What does this mean for Richmond?
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy at birth in Richmond upon Thames, 2010-2012 | 81.7 | 85.9 |
| Life expectancy at birth in England, 2010-2012 | 79.2 | 83.0 |
| Absolute gap in life expectancy between Richmond upon Thames and England | 2.5 | 2.9 |
|
Slope index of inequality* within Richmond upon Thames, 2010-2012 |
6.8 | 3.9 |
(* the range of life expectancy in years from the most to the least deprived areas in the Borough)
- Both males and females in the Borough enjoy a higher life expectancy at birth than England.
- There is a 6.8 years difference in life expectancy at birth between the most and the least deprived males in the Borough. For females, the gap is 3.9 years. However, this is an improvement over 2009-10 when the life expectancy gap was 7.0 years from males and 4.3 years for females.
The diagram below shows the breakdown of percentage contribution that makes the life expectancy gap between Richmond upon Thames most deprived quintile and the least deprived quintile, by cause of death, 2010-2012.
- In males, the biggest percentage contribution to the life expectancy gap is cancer (24.2%) followed by respiratory (20.1%), circulatory disease (16.7%) and external causes (11.1%).
- In females, respiratory and circulatory diseases together contribute nearly two-thirds of the life expectancy gap. Over the period of 2010-2012, it is estimated that there were 30 excess deaths due to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in the most deprived quintile area of Richmond.
- A NHS Richmond CCG COPD Pathway Review is underway to review current COPD needs and services to put forward recommendations to improve the quality of care in the community.