L

Lord Patel (CB)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 May 2025

Debate

Healthy Life Expectancy

Contribution

My Lords, while accepting what the noble Baroness, Lady Alexander, and the Minister have said about social inequalities in health outcomes, there are other issues. For instance, period mortality affects life expectancy, so a male aged 65 will expect to live another 18.5 years and a female another 21 years. In turn, period life expectancy is affected by mortality rates so if you improve mortality rates, particularly for diseases where the rates are highest, you will improve life expectancy irrespective of social inequalities. That means that we need the health service to deliver high-quality care for those conditions which result in high mortality rates. Any forward plan or 10-year plan should address that issue. Does the Minister think that might be wise?

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