Improving Wellbeing

Supporting the wellbeing of our population is vital to ensuring that all residents are able to work, study and maximise the opportunities available to enjoy a good standard of living. This priority aligns to our commitment to be a Marmot Town, building on the recommendations of Professor Sir Michael Marmot and the Institute of Health Equity in their report, Reducing Health Inequalities in Luton: A Marmot Town. At the heart of this challenge is significant inequality in overall health outcomes that are preventing many in our town from reaching their full potential and having a good quality of life.

Life expectancy in Luton for both males and females is lower than the national and regional averages, with stark inequalities in different parts of the town. Women in our most deprived wards can expect to live almost seven years shorter lives than women from our least deprived areas; for men this gap is just over five years. The Covid-19 pandemic further highlighted and exacerbated many of these health challenges as well as widening inequalities around wider determinants of health such as education, housing and employment. Despite this our Population Wellbeing recovery plan has helped to protect many of our most vulnerable people from Covid-19, while also tackling some of the most severe inequalities faced as a result.

The cost of living crisis threatens to further exacerbate many of these inequalities. As a result we will adopt a more strategic approach to system-wide prevention, that addresses the wider determinants of health, including employment, housing and the environment to reduce long-term inequalities that will prevent people from reaching reaching their full potential.