How Healthy Is Dover?

The varying life expectancy of people living in different parts of Dover district is one of the issues highlighted in Kent's new public health strategy, which is to be the subject of a major debate at Kent County Council on 24 July.

Little girls in St Margarets at Cliffe can expect to live to be 82.2 on average, making them the longest-lived in the district. In contrast, in the central Dover ward of Castle, girls aged up to four now will typically live for 8.7 years less, reaching 73.5.

That difference is one of the smaller ones in Kent. The borough with the smallest difference between its longest and shortest life expectancies is Tunbridge Wells, where it is 6.8 years. In Dartford, however, which has the ward with the girls who can expect to live for the longest of anyone in Kent, the difference in life expectancy between wards is 14 years. (Boys in Kent, as nationally, will typically live for a shorter time than girls.)

These facts and detailed plans to improve public health in six key areas are all in the public health strategy which has been drawn up by Kent County Council, West Kent NHS Primary Care Trust, and Eastern and Coastal Kent NHS Primary Care Trust, in liaison with the district and borough councils.

Kent is one of the first areas of the country to develop a public health strategy. It aims to reduce health inequalities, heart disease and alcohol and drug abuse, to cut the number of teenage pregnancies, improve children's mental health and wellbeing, and increase the number of older people able to live at home with chronic disease.

Proposals to improve sex education in Kent, drawn up by a KCC select committee, will also be debated by the county council. Young people from the Kent Youth County Council will contribute their views.

Later, West Kent PCT Chief Executive Steve Phoenix, and Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT Chief Executive Ann Sutton, will update Kent County Council on plans for modernising healthcare in the county.

Graham Gibbens, KCC Cabinet Member for Public Health, said:

"I am delighted that the county council has set aside an entire day to consider public health with the assistance of our NHS colleagues. Improving the health of the population is arguably the most important responsibility local authorities and the NHS have and this shows how seriously we take that responsibility in Kent."