Study reveals women in part of Batley have the lowest life expectancy in Kirklees, with some areas of Dewsbury named among the most deprived in the district

At a meeting of Kirklees Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny panel, inequalities in the health sector were discussed and more shocking statistics were brought to light.

Health inequalities were defined during the meeting as “avoidable differences between people or groups due to social, geographical, biographical or other factors”.

Such differences are said to have a major impact with people worst off economically having poorer health and shorter life-spans.

According to a study carried out between 2019 and 2021, women born into the highest levels of deprivation in Kirklees live 8.4 years less than those in more affluent areas, and men 8.6 years less.

Both males and females born in Holme Valley South had the highest life expectancy of 83.2 years and 85.7 years respectively.

The lowest male life expectancy was 75.9 for those born in Crosland Moor and Netherton.

For women, the lowest expectancy was 78.6 when born in Batley East.

Poverty was regarded to be a major concern for healthcare inequality. A knock-on effect leading to poor health was said to be experienced by people unable to heat homes and afford food.

When surveyed in the 2021 CLiK survey, people from more comfortable economic backgrounds regarded themselves to be in better health and more able to manage their health compared to those in poverty.

Lifestyle factors were also at play, with smoking described as a “significant marker of poor health” and more prevalent in deprived areas. Obesity in adults was also observed more frequently in those living in deprived areas as well as a lower number of year six children at a healthy weight.

Parts of Huddersfield and Dewsbury are among the most deprived in the borough. Wards with areas falling into the most deprived 10 per cent include parts of Batley East and West, Dewsbury East and West, Dalton and Ashbrow, among others.

Statistics relating to children in poverty were also shared from the CLiK survey. The Kirklees-wide average shows that 30 per cent of children were living in poverty at the time of the survey.

This is much higher in some wards, the highest being 60.5 per cent of children in Dewsbury West – almost ten times higher than the percentage of children living in poverty in the Denby Dale ward.

Patients from more deprived areas were also said to experience longer waiting times. On top of this, data analysed by the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) revealed discrepancies in the waiting times of patients dependent on their ethnicities.

During the pandemic, people belonging to black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities were waiting for healthcare services an average of seven weeks longer than patients waiting for the same service who are white.

Anna Basford, the director of transformation and partnerships at CHFT, said that the analysis carried out by CHFT involved patients already referred to the trust’s services and awaiting treatments.

She explained that people are treated in terms of the urgency of their needs - those with the greatest clinical need being treated first - yet a significant difference in waiting times was found for those living in deprived areas, or belonging to certain ethnic groups.