Health update for West Wiltshire

9.03.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 1st Jul 2009

The Department of Health have published an updated 'Health Profile' for West Wiltshire for 2009 - the fourth year the figures have been published.

Generally it says we're in good nick, but our road casualty rates are worse than the national average, too many of us smoke during pregnancy and rates of children's tooth decay are higher than in the country as a whole.

Death rates from heart disease, cancer and strokes are lower than the national average, but the life expectancy of people living in the more deprived areas is four years less than that of people in the more comfortable bits of Wiltshire.

9% of children are classed as obese when they start school. Amongst adults 22% smoke, 15% do binge drinking, 35% eat healthily and 13% are physically active.

The average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth in children aged 5 is still a concern. Given that the decayed state of NHS dentistry is a national problem it's not clear why this should be.

Last year GCSE achievement was identified as a problem, though this is now identified as an area where Wiltshire is 'significantly better than the national average'. This sudden swing from one extreme to the other casts a question mark over the validity of the data, though perhaps the real question here is why this should be seen as an indicator of health rather than education.

For more information and to see how West Wilts compares to other areas see www.healthprofiles.info

And if you really want to dive into HNS bureaucracy see www.swpho.nhs.uk

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