Some of the statistics in the Croydon CCG annual report make for horrifying reading
The divergence in the quality of life among some Croydon residents is so great that a woman from Fieldway in New Addington can expect to live 14 years less than her counterpart with a home in the same borough and barely three miles away in Sanderstead.
That is according to NHS Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group, in their annual report on the state of health and health services in the borough.
While Matthew Kershaw, the chief executive of the Croydon NHS Trust, used yesterday’s Croydon Healthwatch annual meeting occasion to provide reassurance about the readiness of Mayday Hospital in the face of a “second wave” of coronavirus, the CCG annual report provides a broader overview, intended to anticipate trends and demands on the health services in coming years.
According to Greater London Authority projections, by 2031, the population of Croydon is expected to rise to 444,573, up from 2019 estimate of 396,548, making Croydon’s one of the fastest-growing populations in the whole of the capital. Croydon’s child population is reckoned to be the largest in London.
Of the existing Croydon populace, 51.7 per cent are from a BAME background.
According to the CCG report, two-thirds of Croydon’s adult population is either overweight or obese.
The lack of mental health provision is an increasing issue, with an estimate that 76 per cent of people who suffer from depression are undiagnosed.
Among other key health facts about Croydon presented in the CCG report…
- Life expectancy for both men and women in Croydon is higher than the England average. However, life expectancy is 7.9 years lower for men and 5.4 years lower for women in the most deprived parts of Croydon than in the least deprived areas. These gaps are larger for healthy life expectancy
- There is significant variation in deprivation between wards within the borough. In New Addington North (the ward that used to be called Fieldway), for instance, 86.7 per cent of the population are among the 20 per cent most deprived in England.
- In Sanderstead, none of the population isy among the 20 per cent most deprived.
- Croydon Council estimates that more than 2,500 families in the borough live in poverty.
- In 2017, an estimated 12 per cent of Croydon adults smoked, with 1,068 deaths in the borough that year attributed to the effects of smoking.
- More than 1 in 5 (21.9 per cent) of children aged four to five years are overweight or obese, and more than 1 in 3 (37.9 per cent) children aged 10 to 11 are overweight or obese.
- There were 6,512 hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions in 2017-2018.
- Breast and cervical cancer screening rates in Croydon are both lower than the national average, but above the London average.
To read the Croydon CCG 2019-2020 report in full, click here.
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Depressing but some good news
Information released with London going into Tier 2 showed that Croydon was only bettered by three London Boroughs for overall Covid 19 figures
Lets congratulate local health services for this
So many health factors are in play– obesity due to several factors –eating too much ( my own ) eating too much refined sugar, burgers, daily eep fried food and chips, sugary drinks, using the car and never walking or not walking enough, drinking too much ( in calorific terms– just one a pint of beer contains an alrming number of calories- another of mine) — plus smoking (12% is perhaps much lower than it was in the last 100 years, but is still quite shocking). And not eating green veg and fruit. Oh– and incredible cheapness of food, and availability of huge bags of snacks for a quid or so.
These are affecting the whole country, but it is clear that poverty is implicated in lifting the incidence of all the factors that reduce lifespans and indeed, quality of life.
I can’t help despairing about the obesity figures for young people. I sometimes see adults almost force feeding their babies in pushchairs with snacks and fast food, on buses and trains and in caffs, even when the child is not asking for food. It is a type of abuse.
Eating snacks and drinking sweet drinks in the street used to be seldom seen, but in the UK, it is now a common sight to see people wandering down the street, consuming both. Seemingly with an invisible umbilical chord delivering a constant supply of carbs and sugars. Pretty naff to see, but also — why??
I can totally appreciate that many of the population have recently come from places where food was not abundant and cheap, like it is here nowadays. But the obesity crisis is plain to see everywhere.
It is probably deeply politially incorrect to theorise that the national decline of smoking since the 1970’s has been mirrored by an increase in obesity, although in my own case, addiction to nicotine seemed to either reduce the appetite, or reduce the nutritional uptake from food.
The necessary measures to reduce personal body weight- eat less, exercise more– are so well known, but the flesh and mind are too frequently weak (in my case at least).
Ironically, in many ways it is easier to get more exercise in the town, equipped as it is with hundreds of miles of pavements, steps, and sport opportunities, and local shops, and where public transport allows us to walk betwen our homes and the local bus stop or station, than it is in the countryside where, to get to a shop, one has to get in the car.
Covid has made most of us less inclined to explore the city on foot or on public transport, although strong-willed folk are still to be seen running, cycling and walking purposefuly around the streets of our suburbs. I really must try to join them. It comes down to making a decison, allocating time, and sticking with it. If only…….