Islington Council's Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee has approved a comprehensive report on improving healthy life expectancy across the borough, highlighting significant work being undertaken to address health inequalities.
The report, titled Scrutiny Review Final Report – Improving Healthy Life Expectancy in Islington
, draws on evidence sessions, service visits, and engagement with various teams. Key findings revealed significant disparities in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between different demographics and areas within the borough. For instance, the difference in life expectancy between males in the least deprived areas and those in the most deprived was nine years, while for females, it was 3.4 years. In terms of healthy life expectancy, individuals in the most deprived areas spend approximately 70% of their lives in good or very good health, compared to about 84% in the least deprived areas. Furthermore, White and Black communities experience higher mortality linked to preventable deaths, and Black and Bangladeshi communities have higher mortality from treatable deaths, particularly from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, respectively.
In Islington, an estimated 1,084 potentially preventable deaths and 557 potentially treatable deaths were identified. Cancer, particularly lung cancer, significantly contributes to premature mortality under 75, especially among men. Notably, drug-related and alcohol-specific deaths are the only categories of avoidable mortality where the national age-standardised mortality rate has increased significantly since 2001.
The ten recommendations within the report focus on a range of areas, including tackling these inequalities, enhancing data insight and targeted interventions, reducing preventable mortality, and the early identification of long-term conditions. The Council and its partners are committed to strengthening the use of integrated health, care, and community insight data to better understand patterns of health inequality. This includes developing improved local intelligence on underserved communities to better target interventions and resources for maximum impact on healthy life expectancy. An annual health inequalities report identifying priority communities is expected, alongside evidence of targeted interventions informed by local insight data.
The report also advocates for adopting a Health in All Policies
approach, which will be practically implemented across major strategies and policy decisions. This approach will address wider determinants of health, such as housing quality, access to green space, active travel, air quality, and the built environment, ensuring council policies actively contribute to improving healthy life expectancy and reducing health inequalities.
Promoting healthy weight and physical activity, reducing smoking, and increasing quit attempts are also key priorities. Smoking prevalence in Islington stands at an estimated 9.7%, with higher rates found among men, residents aged 50–64, those in deprived areas, and certain ethnic minority communities. The 'Breathe' service offers a structured support model, and partners will strengthen the Smoke Free Islington approach. This includes expanding public education on smoking harms, developing clear local messaging on vaping for young people and non-smokers, and leveraging trading standards and enforcement as new regulations are introduced.
Synthetic opioids, such as Nitazenes and illicitly produced Fentanyl, have been identified as an emerging risk due to their significantly higher potency. Islington has a Synthetic Opioid Preparedness Plan in place, providing guidance on incident management and response. The service aims to raise awareness of contamination risks, and a drug alert messaging service encourages users to be aware of overdose signs. Since 2023, efforts to prevent drug-related deaths have been strengthened through improved monitoring and surveillance using the Local Drug Information System (LDIS) and a new partnership panel to review all drug-related deaths.
The report also emphasizes the significance of a whole life-course approach
to health equity. This involves strengthening early-intervention support from early years through childhood and adolescence. The Committee endorses the life course approach outlined in Islington's Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, focusing on improving health and reducing childhood inequalities that shape long-term health outcomes, including early nutrition, healthy development, and health education on drugs, tobacco, and vaping.
Officers welcomed the report, stating it provides clear next steps for the council's work on health equity. The report will now be submitted to the Executive for a formal response.
The Scrutiny Review Final Report – Improving Healthy Life Expectancy in Islington
can be found at SCRUTINY REVIEW FINAL REPORT.pdf.
