Page updated: 24 May 2011
The health of people in Trafford
Local people in Trafford are generally healthier and live longer than anywhere else in the north west.
NHS Trafford is currently responsible for:
- Commissioning health services from a range of local providers, including hospitals, to meet the health needs of our local population.
- Providing primary and community healthcare services to the residents of Trafford.
We continually work to improve and develop local health services, address health inequalities, and ensure that everyone has equal access to high quality healthcare when and where it is needed.
Our community, health visiting and district nursing teams all provide high quality community-based health services. We also work with our local GP colleagues and their teams, with pharmacists, dentists, opticians, hospital trusts and the local authority, to provide additional health services that will improve the health and well-being of local people.
Across Trafford there are:
- 47 general medical practices;
- 56 pharmacies;
- 28 optician practices; and
- 31 dental practices.
We employ 690 whole time equivalent staff, and are responsible for a gross annual budget of more than £300 million.
We cover the same area as the local authority, serving a population of about 227,492 people, from Old Trafford in the north of the borough to Hale in the south.
Local peoples’ health
Overall, the health of people in Trafford is generally better than, or similar to, the rest of England, with life expectancy for men and women across our borough even showing a steady rise.
But this generally positive story shouldn't distract us from three important facts...
- People in Trafford are still dying earlier than necessary because of just three diseases (see below).
- People from the most deprived parts of our borough are, on average, living significantly shorter lives than people from the most well-off areas in Trafford - ten years less for men and six years less for women.
- People with mental health problems and learning disabilities suffer poorer physical health than the rest of our population generally.
In addition, 80% of deaths in our borough are as a result of just three types of disease:
- Cardio-vascular disease (for instance stroke or heart failure) - this is the biggest cause of death in Trafford and our early mortality (death) rates are 8% above the national average.
- Cancer - a lot of money and resources go into cancer care in our borough, but people are still dying too early from these conditions.
- Respiratory disease (breathing problems and lung conditions) - the third biggest killer in Trafford.
There is also a predicted growth in Trafford's population in future years of more than 10% over the 25 years between 2004 and 2029. By 2012 alone there will be 2,300 more working age adults and 2,800 people aged over 65 years. This growing, aging population will present a serious challenge to the NHS in Trafford.
Our overall aim is help at least 122 more people across Trafford avoid early death every year by transforming our current healthcare systems so we can reach those individuals who are at greatest risk from our biggest killer diseases and give them the best and earliest possible care.
Meeting the challenge
We want to so something radically different that will allow us to spot and help not just the communities, but the individuals, most at risk of developing or dying from these diseases. That means completely rethinking how we have traditionally cared for patients as well as how we organise our business and the type of skills we require to ensure this.
Adding years to people's lives and making the quality of those years better are very ambitious goals.
By working with other healthcare providers in the area, we believe we can begin to make these changes. GPs already keep their own patient registers for particular diseases. What we're suggesting is making these even better and bringing them all together as one complete, but still confidential, record that can be used to spot and help the people who are at greatest risk from the 'big three' diseases.
We think this approach will also offer big opportunities for getting special support to people living in the most deprived parts of our borough and who, as a result, are more likely to have shorter lives than the people living in the well-off areas of Trafford.
As a first step, we are already beginning to work with GP practices in the four wards with the highest mortality (death) rates: Clifford, Bucklow-St. Martins, Urmston and Gorse Hill.
Over the next five years we believe that this sort or proactive, outreach service - based on a new shared patient register - will play a major role in helping us reduce the mortality rate in these wards by 5% each year (21 lives annually).
That's a big step towards narrowing the stark and unfair health gap between the richest and poorest parts of our borough.
Another new, radical approach we are working on is creating teams where GPs, consultants, nurses, other health professionals and social care staff work together to meet a patient's full range of care needs. For example, if a person has a stroke their care will seamlessly move from hospital treatment to ongoing treatment and support in the community and at home, helping patients regain confidence, mobility and independence.