Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
Our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (2023) shows that the overall health and wellbeing in Coventry is below average, with residents living in more deprived parts of the city not only living shorter lives, but also spending a greater proportion of their shorter lives in poor health than those living in less deprived parts of the city. The life expectancy at birth of the average person in Coventry is 78 years for males and 82 years for females (2018-2020). However, this masks significant health inequalities across the city – of 11 years and 8 years respectively. Healthy life expectancy for Coventry, the years residents spend in good health, are 61 years for males and 64 years for females; this has decreased and remains below the regional and England averages.
As a Marmot City, Coventry demonstrate a strong unified commitment to addressing health inequalities in the city and reducing the inequality gap. This includes addressing the effect of deprivation on life expectancy. Males living in less deprived areas of the city can on average live up to 10.7 years longer than those living in the most deprived areas of Coventry; for females the gap is 7.8 years. Premature mortality (deaths under the age of 75) is higher in Coventry due to higher rates of premature mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease and there are avoidable differences in health outcomes, particularly around issues such as alcohol use, obesity / physical activity, tuberculosis, and sexual health. In comparison to other areas the premature mortality rate amongst Coventry men due to cardiovascular disease is particularly high.
These inequalities are not inevitable and reducing inequality in society has been shown to lead to improvements in wellbeing, better mental health, better community and social relations, reduced levels of violence and better educational attainment. Coventry is taking steps to reduce health inequalities by recognising the wider impact social, digital, and environmental factors have on an individual’s overall health and wellbeing. To meet these increasing health requirements, the Council works closely with the Integrated Care Board, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust and our Public Health colleagues to address the city’s health needs.
What this tells us: Dedicated work has been ongoing to address these inequalities since 2013 however there remains significant health, social and digital inequalities apparent across the city. It is clear these cannot be addressed in isolation, and it must be a systemwide effort across the Council, ICB and provider market to make meaningful change, for example, identifying individuals at risk of loneliness, promoting uptake of vaccinations, and cultivating positive work environments. We must also remain conscious of additional factors which may be further contributing to these inequalities, for example cost of living pressures, and utilise and share available resources to alleviate issues experienced.
People who self-fund their care
In Coventry, the Council is the major purchaser in most markets and whilst accurate live data on self-funders is limited our Cost of Care exercise noted approximately 30% of older people’s residential placements were self-funded. The Office of National Statistics predicts approximately 36.7% of care home residents self-fund their care across England.