The chances of staying healthy until you pack up from work are declining

AT the top tier of the NHS is a group of directors that at times appear to be very good at capably managing its decline, while making little or no public fuss about the bigger picture.

They operate in what feels like a parallel universe, outside any democratic process, where the public are informed that “meetings in public are not public meetings”.

Decisions are announced on the back of lengthy reports which are written in deliberately impenetrable language with a business-style tone.

They often aim to impression that an unstoppable avalanche of  crises hurtling down the proverbial mountain is, in a managerial sense at least, all under control.

Take for exmaple, he most recent major report published by the snappily-titled West and North London NHS Integrated Care Board shows how, from cradle to grave, Camden residents’ health has significantly worsened over the last decade.

Several passages and statistics stand out, including one I hadn’t seen raised before about how Camden residents can now expect to live for roughly a quarter of their lives in poor health and, crucially, the deterioration will set-in before “retirement” age.

On average, the age Camden residents stop living healthy lives is now 65 years-old for men, 62 for women.

That’s three years earlier for both than was estimated a decade ago. “The average person in Camden can now expect to spend 18–23 years (roughly a quarter of their life) in poor health and enter poor health before state pension age,” WNL’s report said.

Nationally, the UK is ranked among the worst-performing wealthy nations when it comes to this marker, with only the United States ranking lower.

Rising levels of ill health are already contributing to record numbers of people unable to work, adding to the pressure on health and social care services.

Against this backdrop, you would think a case for further increases to the state pension age would be difficult to justify – but that is exactly what the government is trying to do.

If the thought of working out your final years in poor health before getting the state pension (£240 a week depending on your NI contributions) doesn’t get you down, then another nugget in the WNL report may also be of interest.

“The prevalence of depression has doubled,” the report looking at the last decade adds.

Rates of cancer, circulatory and respiratory diseases – biggest causes of a growing life expectancy gap between the rich and poor – are increasing.

And the level of Camden’s “deprivation” – the number of people without the essential means for living a healthy life has increased in Camden by three percent since 2019.

When it comes to children and the future, the report reveals that those diagnosed with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) has increased by a third in five years.

In the same period, there has been a “three-fold” increase in Camden patients’ asthma emergency admissions to hospital.

The report also singles out Camden for having the sharpest increase of all the WNL boroughs for the increase for the proportion of pupils aged 5-15 years considered to be “severe school absentees”.

Around one in five children are absent from school 10 percent of the  time while, in Camden and Islington, 2.5 percent are missing 50 percent of a whole year.

The WNL ICB is the latest incarnation of the authority which decides how NHS funding is spent in Camden, along with 13 other London boroughs.

It was born out of turmoil caused by cutbacks announced in 2025 by Sir Keir Starmer, still as PM, and Wes Streeting then serving as Health Secretary – both now doing other things.

Camden’s NHS funding was for many years managed by an authority that at least had in depth knowledge of the complexities of the borough, first elected health boards and then the Camden Primary Care Trust.

But it is now so thinly stretched it is having to make decisions on half the capital.

And despite the assuring tone, you do not get the feeling that things are going to improve anytime soon.

“These findings reveal a stark truth – the UK’s health is going backwards”, said Dr Jennifer Dixon, the chief executive of the Health Foundation said in a statement responding to the national picture.

“The lights on the dashboard are flashing red. We are the most obese country in western Europe, mental ill health has surged to unprecedented levels and more people than ever before are living with chronic health conditions.”