Section 6: Inequalities and COVID-19

In the year when COVID-19 entered our lives, the link between inequalities and poor health outcomes has become increasingly clear. As we are still in the pandemic phase, we are unable to fully quantify the impact of COVID-19 in Gateshead, but there are some early observations to make about the likely impacts on local people.

Recently published data suggests that the most deprived areas of England have twice the rate of deaths involving COVID-19 than the most affluent. But COVID-19 is not unique in this respect: inequalities in mortality have long been evident. Indeed, deaths from suicide, conditions such as liver disease and cancer as well as overall mortality rates, all show that death rates for people living in the most deprived areas of the country are higher than those in the least deprived. (Nuffield Trust. Mortality rate for different conditions, per 100,000 people (Published 06/05/2020))

Gateshead is the 47th most deprived local authority in England, out of 317 local authorities. Around 32,700 (16%) people in Gateshead live in one of the 10% most deprived areas of England. (Gateshead JSNA)

As the chart shows, not only do all causes of death lie below the equality line, most death rates for the most deprived areas are around twice those in the least deprived.