Move to healthy Ryedale for a longer life (From Gazette & Herald)

Move to healthy Ryedale for a longer life

DO you want to live a long and healthy life? Then move to Ryedale.

That is the conclusion of a study on health inequalities in the UK

published by the Department of Health.

According to new league tables, Ryedale is the third healthiest place to

live in England.

Only London's two most exclusive boroughs - Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea - score higher.

The tables are based on the Standardised Mortality Rate - which assesses

how many people would be expected to die in a district per year.

The SMR in Ryedale is only 78 - which means 22 people in every 100 are

living longer than expected.

At the other end of the scale, Liverpool has an SMS of 131 and Manchester

127. No figures are available for York and other parts of North Yorkshire as

they are not ranked among the ten healthiest - or least healthy - places.

The data was released as part of a Government drive to tackle widespread

inequalities in health across England.

Health Inequalities - A Programme For Action sets out detailed ways in

which the Government's strategy to cut inequalities in health can be put

into practice.

Health Secretary John Reid said: "For too long we have been prepared to

tolerate glaring differences in health between different parts of our

country and different groups within it.

"Why should we accept that manual workers and some ethnic minorities appear condemned to suffer worse health just through an accident of birth?

"Tackling these injustices is a task for us all - for the NHS, certainly, and my Department. But also for local authorities, the education system,

and the world of work. Most of all, it is a challenge for local communities."

Updated: 11:51 Thursday, July 03, 2003