The Spirit of Swindon: Forget the stethoscope – tell me your postcode

By Tom Wilkes on behalf of Spirit of Swindon

Most of us will have heard of the postcode lottery, where people in one part of the country have health treatments open to them which others do not, eg a shorter waiting time for a hip replacement or better support for IVF.

But there is a far more worrying association between someone’s postcode and their health which is revealed by the figures for how long men and women might be expected to live in different parts of the same town

Figures from 2014 reveal that men who live in one of the most challenging areas (a voting ward) of Swindon can expect to live nine years less than men who live in the ward with the highest life expectancy. That is a shocking statistic. You have probably been hearing worries expressed by health watchdogs about the increasing levels of obesity across the nation. Swindon is slightly better placed than many other towns and cities yet almost 70% of adults here are considered overweight and fewer than 60% of us are sufficiently physically active to positively impact our health. The implications of this for the health of well over half of us in the medium and longer term is grave for individuals, their families and their employers, and its impact on the funding and sustainability of the NHS is increasingly worrying.

Those who have followed earlier articles in Link will know Spirit of Swindon’s concern to raise awareness of economic inequality in the UK, and health is an area where that impact is more obvious. As a country, the UK is at the wrong end of the scale when it comes to health issues such as obesity and life expectancy. The data gathered nationally and internationally over the past 7 years show a clear association with the level of economic inequality. Clearly, there are complex issues at play and a response to our first article in December correctly pointed out that association is not the same as causation. Nevertheless, the link is coherent and compelling.

Two things that we do to improve our wellbeing are to eat more healthily and exercise. However, our ability to make these choices will be limited by income and opportunity. Having previously raised the issue of fuel poverty – the choice whether to be warm or hungry – ‘health poverty’ is another way of framing deprivation. If you need convincing, as some people do, of the reality of deprivation in the UK today reading ‘Breadline Britain’ by Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack* should open your eyes.

Given proposed changes to the structure of the health region to which Swindon belongs, another ‘one thing’ you might do to engage with issues of inequality - which will affect you - will be to contribute to the debate. ** Where there are opportunities to ‘Sustain and Transform’ provision locally to make a real and lasting impact on income inequality, then we ought to grasp them.

The American pastor TD Jakes said that pain is a gift to draw attention to a problem we have failed to notice.

*Stewart Lansley will be speaking in Swindon on Thursday March 30^th. 7.00 p.m. at the Baptist Church Hall in Gorse hill.