Britain is now a country where old men lead shorter and shorter 'healthy lives' before they die

Healthy life expectancy for men in Britain has fallen from 62.9 years in the 2012-14 period to 60.7 years in 2022-24 and from 63.7 to 60.9 years for women over the same timeframe.

According to the Office for National Statistics, this means that the proportion of life a man spends in good health is down from 79% to 77% and, for a woman, from 77% to 73%.

The stark reality is that men and women in Britain are spending fewer years in good health than they were a decade ago. This sharp decline in Britain’s healthy life expectancy, the amount of time someone spends free of illness or disability, is in sharp contrast to its recent rise in most other rich countries around the world. The fact is that Britain's population’s health is poor, getting worse and not undergoing the same steady improvement for old men seen in countries such as Japan, Norway and Spain.

The decline in Britons’ health in recent years is so significant that, in more than 90% of Britain, people now start suffering from illness before the state pension age of 66.

 Dr Jennifer Dixon, the Health Foundation’s Chief Executive said : “These findings reveal a stark truth – the UK’s health is going backwards. The lights on the dashboard are flashing red. We are the most obese country in western Europe, mental ill health has surged to unprecedented levels and more people than ever before are living with chronic health conditions.”

The Office for National Statistics stated in its Report that : 'Obesity – which is leading to more cases of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer and high numbers of deaths caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide help explain the loss of two years of illness-free life'. In addition it said that people’s worsening self-reported health and deep health inequalities between rich and poor are also key factors. Its report found that Britain was one of only five countries where healthy life expectancy has declined, and it had fallen from 14th to 20th in the 21-nation international league table, with only the USA below it.

Britain has deep and widening inequalities in healthy life expectancy. In wealthy Richmond upon Thames, London, the average man enjoys 69.3 years and average woman 70.3 years in good health. Whereas in Blackpool an average man in Blackpool gets just 50.9 years. 

The Report found that the UK was one of only five countries where healthy life expectancy has declined, and it had fallen from 14th to 20th in the 21-nation international league table, with only the USA below it.

Britain is no country for sick old men who live in an idyllic Lake District village called Coniston

After having a succession of family doctors for 170 years, the village of Coniston, nestled in the Cumbrian Mountains, has lost its last doctor and has been unable to find a replacement. Its present population numbers 800 and despite inducements, like an advertising campaign stating that with seven pubs “we’ll never run out of beer”, alas, not a single permanent medic has come forward to fill the breach. 

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Furness has said it would be a “tragedy” to lose the village GP service for the first time since the 1850s. He went on to say : “Small surgeries like this just have to exist because they cover vast rural areas and an elderly population and we’re not tolerating it closing. Once you lose this you lose it for good, and it’s all part and parcel of the atrophying of rural communities. It’s a move that just leads to substantial Lake District villages becoming ghost towns.”

Coniston, with its surgery in Wraysdale House, is the latest victim of a chronic shortage of doctors nationwide in Britain after years of underinvestment and the demands of more and more old men and women with increasingly complex illness. Nearly one in three of the parish residents in Coniston are over 65, while about one in seven are disabled. 

At the moment they are not without a doctor but, following
the retirement of Dr. Frey and departure of Dr. Abbas in 2025, a 'caretaker team' was brought in to ensure the continuity of general medical services and although it is in place there is uncertainty regarding the long-term future of the surgery. If it closes, patients would have an hour round trip by car to the nearest full-time surgery in the market town of Ulverston and travelling by bus would take about two hours and include an almost half-hour walk. 

The Coniston Patient Group, which has fought for more than a decade to keep the surgery open has said : “We will not accept the loss of our GP service without a renewed and determined effort to find a provider. We have demonstrated overwhelming local support and a clear clinical need.” 

Videographers Jago Miller and Russell Howard enlisted the support of villagers to highlight the benefits of living in Coniston. “It’s been a real community effort,” Tracy Coward, Chair of Coniston Parish Council, told the information website, 'Cumbria Crack'. “We just wanted to get the word out that there is a fantastic opportunity to come to Coniston and work as a GP. We’re a friendly community and everyone pulled together to make the film.” Within 24 hours, 38,000 people had watched the film which has been shared on Facebook. A previous similar appeal to find a new headteacher worked and film-makers hope applicants will be tempted to apply. Tracy said : “I think you have to make your own luck and we’re hopeful the film will make a difference.” (link)