Life expectancy in Rainford is the highest in St Helens

The St Helens Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) 2020 looks at the key public health issues of life expectancy and mortality to ensure local services best meet the needs of residents.

Life expectancy is a measure that indicates the overall health of the population and since 2011, has slowed in growth nationally for the first time in several decades.

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In St Helens, life expectancy correlates with deprivation for both male and females, with a lower life expectancy seen in more deprived areas.

St Helens is one of the poorest areas in England, with 43 per cent of its population living in the top 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country.

The JSNA notes that there remains “wide inequalities” in life expectancy at birth, an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would live if current death rates do not change.

For 2017-2019, life expectancy at birth was significantly worse in St Helens than the England average.

Across the borough, life expectancy between 2017 and 2019 was 78 years for males and 81.4 years for females.

For males, there is 10.4 years difference between the wards with the highest (Rainford, 82 years) and lowest (Town Centre, 71.6 years) life expectancy.

For females, there is 9.2 years difference between Rainford (85.1 years) and Parr (75.9 years).

The data JSNA was presented to the People’s Board this week by Sue Forster, St Helens Borough Council’s director of public health.

She told the board, which includes membership from public and voluntary sectors, that it needs to understand the inequalities “in a lot more detail”.

“We’ve not really made the significant, in-depth indents into those life expectancy inequalities,” Ms Forster said.

“And I think this is something that we might need to focus on going forward because we really need to understand inequalities in a lot more detail.

“Because we have reported them many times – but we know that COVID is likely to have another layer or add another complication to those inequalities.”

Across St Helens, mortality rates are also significantly higher than the national average for both males and females and slightly higher than the North West.

In total, 1,063 males and 1,033 females died in St Helens in 2019.

The most common causes of death overall are cancer (26 per cent) and circulatory disease (24 per cent).

The data within this JSNA is for 2019 and therefore COVID-19 data has not been included.

In relation to all age all-cause mortality – a key indicator of the overall health of the borough – Town Centre and Parr have the highest rates, while Eccleston and Billinge have the lowest.

As with all-age all-cause mortality, there is a downward trend for under 75 mortality rates in St Helens.

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The under 75 mortality rate in St Helens is similar to the North West rate and is the third lowest in the Liverpool City Region.

By ward, there is significant variation between under 75 mortality rates.

Town Centre, Parr and Earlestown have the highest and Rainford, Rainhill and Eccleston having the lowest rates.