Five people in Brighton and Hove are dying needlessly every week, the city's leading doctor believes.
Director of public health Tom Scanlon revealed the startling figure in his annual report, published today (May 31).
Dr Scanlon said 269 lives in the city could potentially be saved every year through tackling issues including smoking, drinking, diet and exercise, housing and the earlier diagnosis of potentially fatal conditions like cancer.
He said the city's GPs, hospitals, community services and council needed to continue to work together closely to help save more people.
And he said while improvements were being made in several areas, there was still a lot that needed to be done to reduce the life expectancy gap across the city.
Men in more deprived areas of the city die on average 10 years earlier than those in more affluent areas.
The gap for women is seven years.
The main causes of death are cancer and heart disease but there are other contributing factors including mental health, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse and accidents.
Dr Scanlon said: “It is important that GPs and other NHS organisations continue to reach out to those people across the city who are less inclined to come forward and access health services.
“The more we do to stop people from slipping through the system, the better the short term results.
“Alcohol continues to be a huge issue for the city and I think the national proposals to introduce a minimum price could have an impact if it goes through.”
This year's report has concentrated on GP practices in the city and highlighted how the national changes to the NHS means they will now have a greater say on how services are run and where they are provided.
Flu jabs
Flu jab vaccination rates are far lower than doctors say they should be.
Coverage in the under 65s in clinical at-risk groups was 51% against a national target of 60% with only five local practices achieving coverage of 60% or above.
Many children who should be vaccinated did not receive the vaccine.
Pregnant women were identified as a risk group during the 2009 pandemic.
When infected with flu they have higher rates of hospitalisation, are more likely to require intensive care, and have a higher risk of premature delivery and perinatal death including stillbirths.
The national target for pregnant women was 60% coverage, but local coverage was just 30%.
Dementia
More than 3,000 people aged 65 years and over in the Brighton and Hove are estimated to have dementia and this number is predicted to increase by more than 25% by 2030.
Diabetes
There are more than 9,500 people in Brighton and Hove living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, and the number is increasing by 5% year on year.
Alcohol consumption
Alcohol is the most popular drug in the city.
Each week there are on average 66 alcohol-related ambulance calls, 97 alcohol-related inpatient hospital admissions and 48 alcohol-related A&E attendances, seven of which are by people aged 13 to 18.
Each month an average of 44 young people are seen by the weekend Alcohol Rescue Service ‘Safe Space’.
Eight people die from alcohol-related causes every month.
The rate of deaths from chronic liver disease is twice as high in Brighton and Hove compared to nationally and almost twice as many children in the city compared to the national average report that they have been drunk three to four times in the last four weeks.
Cancer
Cancer death rates are staying the same in Brighton and Hove while in other parts of the country they are falling.
More than 60% of patients with suspected cancer were referred by a GP to a specialist within a month but this tends to vary depending on the site of the cancer.
Avoidable delays were identified in around 15% of all cancer referral cases, the highest proportion of which were for colorectal cancer.
Smoking
The number of people dying from smoking in Brighton and Hove is 5% higher than the national average.
More than one in four adults in the city smokes and in a survey of local school children 12% of 14 to 16-year-olds said they smoked regularly.
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy rates are falling.
Brighton and Hove has seen significant decreases according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Between 1998 and 2000 there were on average 189 under 18 conceptions each year in the city and this fell to 148 per year between 2008 and 2010 – a fall of 41 conceptions per year.
Childhood obesity
or every ten children in the city, two are overweight or obese in the first year of primary school.
By their last year in primary school three children out of every ten will be overweight or obese.
However indications shows the numbers are falling.
Housing and health
Brighton and Hove has long-standing significant housing issues that can impact on health.
More than 35% of the city’s private sector housing, and over half of its social housing stock, fails to meet the Decent Homes Standard.
This means that more than 97,000 homes have inadequate protection against heat and cold or lack modern facilities.
Life expectancy
The average woman in the city can expect to live five months longer than the average woman in England - 82.5 years compared to 82.1 years nationally.
However, the average man in Brighton and Hove will live nearly a year less than his national counterpart - to just 77.1 compared to 78.
Within the city there are more startling disparities with a seven year gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived women and a staggering 10.1 years gap between men.
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