Plan launched to make South Yorkshire 'healthiest region in the UK' and boost life expectancy
Health bosses want to tackle issues like poor diet and low quality housing
Last updated 26th Jun 2025
The Health is Wealth report, which has been published at a South Yorkshire Integrated Care Partnership meeting today, sets out a vision to make the region the healthiest in the country.
In the centre of the report is a 10-year mission-driven plan to transform health and wellbeing in South Yorkshire, members of the board were told today (June 25) at Chillypep in Southy Green.
Emeritus Professor Alan Walker, the independent chair of the Health Equality Panel who created the report, added the strategy included a “laser-focused” approach on prevention aiming to increase life expectancy in South Yorkshire.
The report says, currently, men and women in South Yorkshire tend to live between 17 and 20 years in poor health.
The report reads: “If South Yorkshire became the healthiest region in the country the number of years, the average man would live in reasonably good health would be extended from the
60 years to 75 years – a gain of 15 years of good health.
For women the gain would be 11 years. Life expectancy would be extended by five years in both cases.”
At the meeting, Prof. Walker said the strategy will prioritise those in the most deprived areas in South Yorkshire.
The report has outlined a four-point strategy:
Radical Prevention – tackling the root causes of ill health, from poor housing to unhealthy food and catching issues early.
Health Equity in all Policies – making sure health is considered in every decision, from transport to education.
Proportionate Universalism – improving everyone’s health but putting the most effort where the need is greatest.
An Inclusive Economy – making sure everyone, especially those left behind, can share in the region’s growth.
To achieve this, some of the practical steps proposed include:
Investing in a strong early year’s workforce to give every child in South Yorkshire the best start in life.
Helping all children in South Yorkshire be active every day.
Reducing rough sleeping and hidden homelessness and ensuring that homelessness services are designed to mitigate health harms of it.
Create a vision for safer, healthier streets where people of all ages can play, walk, wheel and cycle.
After the meeting, South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the report shows how South Yorkshire can become the healthiest region in the country which has been his vision.
He said: “It’s a moral duty for us to make sure that people in this region, who were born here today, get the opportunity to live a life just as healthy and just as long as anywhere else in the country.”
He added if they succeed, people’s lives will be healthier and longer in South Yorkshire.
Mr Coppard said a healthier South Yorkshire would be great for the economy as well – adding if we do everything the report recommends, we will have an economy that is £600million bigger every single year.
The plan is ambitious, Mr Coppard admits. However, he added he wouldn’t be prepared to sell for anything less than the most ambitious goal for the region.
He said a baby born in a deprived part of Rotherham would live five years less than a baby born in an affluent area in London.
“That just can’t be right”, Mr Coppard said, citing reasons such as food, diet, travel, work, skills, training and more.
Mr Coppard was also asked whether it was realistic to aim for the levels of Kensington & Chelsea where life expectancy, for example, is much higher than in South Yorkshire.
He said: “Why shouldn’t we aim for that?”
Is this realistic, though?
Mr Coppard said “where you are born should not determine how long you live or how healthy you are”.
Emeritus Professor Alan Walker told the LDRS that what living in poor health means is some living with chronic conditions – such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc.
He added these chronic conditions “create disabilities” – these usually emerge in old age but in some parts of South Yorkshire this happens earlier when people are in their 50s and some cases in their 40s.
Prof. Walker said: “In other words, they are experiencing accelerated ageing because of the poor state of their lives, and the level of deprivation they are experiencing.”
Can people, who have 60 years of good health, get 75 years of the same, as the report says?
Prof. Walker says so. He says the target is set for 10 years but the pace is dependent on the leadership of the region.
“The crucial thing is them working together. If they can get alignment to this commitment, then it is feasible”, he added.
He said there were some very simple solutions to get there: better diet, more physical exercise, etc.
“It’s not big NHS resources, it’s not new hospitals, or even machinery… We don’t need any of that, we just need a mindset because we want to tackle health inequalities”, Prof. Walker.