Sefton is second only to London’s Kensington and Chelsea in terms of the divide between the rich and the poor in the borough.
The north-south divide in Sefton is well documented, with statistics showing significant differences in life expectancy and other health outcomes between those living in more affluent, northern parts of the borough compared to the more deprived areas in the south.
According to a new council report, the divide is so wide that the borough has the second most divided distribution of wealth in the country – with only Kensington and Chelsea showing a greater divide.
The report, produced ahead of a meeting of the borough’s health and wellbeing board due to be held on Wednesday, details how the wealthiest in Sefton live on average over a decade longer than the those in the borough’s least well off areas.
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For men, those in the wealthiest places live an average of 84 years while women live an average of 88 years. In the borough’s poorer areas these figures drop to 71 years for men and 76 for women. The national average, according to Office for National Statistics data is around 79 for men and 83 for women.
Alongside big differences in life expectancy brought about by the significant differences in life chances and living standards are big differences in experiences of health problems throughout a person’s life.
With a larger than average elderly population, there are specific trends shown in health challenges faced by the population, with some of the big causes of poor health in Sefton including diseases affecting the heart, brain, blood vessels, lungs, cancers, mental illness and injury.
The report states that over half of the ill-health experienced by residents in Sefton can be prevented, with causes including smoking, obesity, poor diet, inactivity and alcohol use as major triggers for long term ill health in the population while the root causes are socio-economic – poverty, poor housing, social isolation and educational disadvantage.
The report has been produced by the Sefton Partnership, overseen by the borough’s integrated care board, which is responsible for developing plans and strategy to meet the health needs of the borough and reports to meetings of the health and wellbeing board on a regular basis.
As well as detailing the scale of health inequalities in the borough, it lists some of the measures being put in place and the costs of the services being provided to Sefton residents.
The approach involves focusing on tackling those health inequalities while encouraging greater use of voluntary and community based services.
The report also refers to the potential merger of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust and St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the need to “ensure the sustainability of acute services” if that takes place.
The report also details plans to develop “anchor institutions” to provide many of the community based health services, with reference made to the council’s plans to develop a health and wellbeing hub as part of its transformation of Bootle Strand.
The report also refers to the importance of early intervention and ensuring services for children are “timely” as well as “better managed” and appropriate for individual needs.
A specific service for women who have recently given birth is also due to be set up, focusing on pelvic health with a planned target date of March 2024, alongside measures to tackle issues with maternal mental and physical health and ensure greater engagement with mums and families in planning services.
There are targets aimed at improving diagnosis of a range of cancers and long term conditions, with the introduction of new and expanded services planned to meet the borough’s needs and ensure earlier detection.
Several measures are also mentioned aimed at improving access to health care for people with learning difficulties and autism. However, the report notes this is set against a backdrop of planned reductions in bed numbers and an overall aim of reducing levels of inpatient care.
Plans are also detailed for the development of community hubs for women’s health to “streamline” services and avoid the need for people to travel to multiple locations for appointments.
Plans to improve healthcare services for the borough’s elderly population is also discussed, including hopes to “retrieve” levels of dementia diagnosis, which as elsewhere in the country, have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
These measures are set against the background of financial challenges, where cuts have been made of around £7m as part of “cost improvement initiatives” – with a significant portion of that relating to prescribing.
The report details total costs of over over £600m, with a planned deficit as part of that of £5m. According to the report, nearly half of the planned spending, £296m is on acute services with £71m being spent on community, £64m on mental health, nearly £50m on prescribing, £48m on primary care commissioning, £40m on continuing care and £19m allocated to ‘other’ programmes and services.
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