Health in Wales

Overview of health in Wales

For an overview of the healthcare system in Wales, see Healthcare in Wales.

Health in Wales refers to the overall health of the population of Wales.

## Public Health Wales

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The Public Health Wales Observatory produces annual Demography Profiles for the Welsh local health boards and has done since 2009. The Observatory is part of the Health Intelligence Division of Public Health Wales. [1]

## Health Service

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As health is a devolved power, from the UK Government, it is the responsibility of the Minister for Health and Social Services for Wales and the Welsh Government, which are responsible for the running of the National Health Service in Wales, all aspects of public health and health protection in Wales, the Food Standards Agency in Wales, post-graduate medical education and any charges for NHS services.[2]

### Prescriptions

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In 2007, Wales became the first UK country to introduce free prescriptions. to all its citizens.[3]

Children smoking and drinking in Wales 1986-2020. Percentage of children and adults meeting recommended physical activity 2019-20 children, and 2021 adults. Life satisfaction in Wales 2012-2020.

## Smoking and drinking

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In April 2007, ahead of England, it became the first to ban smoking in NHS hospitals and in 2019, the first country in the UK to ban smoking in outdoor school spaces, playgrounds and hospital grounds.[4]

January to March of 2020-21:

* The smoking rate was 14%
* 17% of adults drank more than the weekly guidelines
* 31% of adults (16+) ate the recommended portions of five fruit or vegetables a day in 2020-21
* around 7% of adults reported following fewer than 2 healthy lifestyle behaviours [5]

Previous years shows no significant change in the proportion of adult reporting less than two healthy lifestyle behaviours between 2016-17 and 2019-20.

Smoking and drinking rates for children fell significantly between 2002 and 2014, and have not changed significantly in 2018-2020. The proportion of children who followed less than two healthy lifestyle behaviours hasn’t changed for 2021 at 12%.[5]

## Exercise

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32% of adults took part in sport at least three times a week during the 2019-20 period, which was the same level as the previous two years. The proportion of adults not partaking in any sport also stayed stable at 41%.

Those more likely to partake in sporting activities three or more times a week included: men, younger age groups and people in employment.

The latest school sports survey, which is from 2018, showed that 48% of pupils from Year 3 to Year 11 participated in sports 3 times a week, similarly to 2015. This followied a large increase innactivity from 2013 to 2015.

Change in exercise levels during the pandemic varied. Study by Sport Wales showed that inequalities in sport participation increased during the covid pandemic. Older adults and adults in lower socio-economic groups were most likely to participate in sport less frequently. Children from lower socio-economic households were also less likely to participate in sport less frequently.[5]

## Mental health

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The average life satisfaction has been increasing since 2011-12 up until the covid pandemic. Average anxiety levels have also slightly reduced up until this point. The most recent data collected before the onset of the covid pandemic showed a slight deterioration in life satisfaction and anxiety.[5]

## Life expectancy

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Life expectancy at birth was 82.1 years for women and 78.3 years for men for the period 2018-20. [6]

Analysis using 2017 to 2019 statistics showed that the gap in the "healthy" life expectancy (measured using sloped index of inequality) was 17 years for males and 18.3 years for females and remains stable.[6]

"Healthy" life expectancy was only 61.7 years in Wales in 2020, and just 50.7 years in the most deprived communities according to BHF Cymru.[7]

## Causes of death

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Welsh men were expected to live an average of 78.3 years and women 82.3 years in 2014 - about a year less than in England.[8]

West Wales and the Valleys had the second-highest death rate from respiratory diseases of any region in Europe in 2015 at 152 per 100,000 population.[9]

The number of alcohol-related deaths in Wales was 504 in 2016 8.9% more than in the previous year. There were also 271 drug poisoning deaths, involving both legal and illegal drugs, compared with 238 in 2015.[10]

## See also

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* Healthcare in Wales
* NHS Wales
* Public Health Wales
* Health in the United Kingdom

## References

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1. ^ "Populations". NHS Wales. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
2. ^ "Welsh Government | Lesley Griffiths AM". Archived from the original on 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
3. ^ Hart, Edwina. "HELPING TO IMPROVE WALES'S HEALTH: FREE PRESCRIPTIONS THREE YEARS ON" (PDF). NHS Wales. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
4. ^ "Wales to ban smoking outside hospitals and schools in UK first". Guardian News & Media Limited. The Guardian. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
5. ^ a b c d "Wellbeing of Wales: 2021". GOV.WALES. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
6. ^ a b "Wellbeing of Wales: 2021". GOV.WALES. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
7. ^ "Thousands of deaths in Wales every year could be prevented according to BHF Cymru". News from Wales. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
8. ^ "Life expectancy increases in Wales". BBC. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
9. ^ Ballas, Dimitris; Dorling, Danny; Hennig, Benjamin (2017). The Human Atlas of Europe. Bristol: Policy Press. p. 72\. ISBN 9781447313540.
10. ^ "Alcohol-related deaths on the rise in Wales". Pharmaceutical Journal. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.

* v
* t
* e

Health in Wales

Health in the United Kingdom

Healthcare|

| Services|

* NHS Wales
* Local health boards
* NHS Business Services Authority
* NHS Direct Wales
* NHS Pension Scheme
* NHS trusts
* Velindre University NHS Trust
* Welsh Blood Service
* Public Health Wales
* Welsh Ambulance Service

|

Oversight bodies|

* Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
* Llais
* Care Inspectorate Wales
* Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
* Informing Healthcare (former)

* Dentistry
* NHS dentistry
* NHS treatments blacklist
* Drug Tariff
* Individual funding request
* EMRTS Cymru
* Hospitals
* Social care

History|

* History of the National Health Service
* History of NHS Wales
* List of Welsh medical pioneers
* Sanitary districts
* Local board of health
* Defunct district health authorities
* Community health councils
* 2022–present National Health Service strikes

Medicine|

* Medical education
* Cardiff University School of Medicine
* Swansea University Medical School
* North Wales Medical School
* Chief Medical Officer for Wales (Frank Atherton)
* Chief Dental Officer for Wales
* Chief Nursing Officer for Wales

Epidemics|

* COVID-19 pandemic
* UK-wide
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* Dragon's Heart Hospital
* Test, Trace, Protect
* 2005 South Wales E. coli O157 outbreak
* 2013 Swansea measles epidemic

Government agencies
and institutes|

* Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

* UK Health Security Agency
* Health and Care Research Wales
* Health Commission Wales
* National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
* NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service Division

Organisations|

* Association of Mental Health Providers
* Autism Cymru (former)
* Centre for Health and International Relations
* Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology
* Sight Life
* St John Ambulance Cymru
* Trust PA
* Wales Air Ambulance

Studies|

* Caerphilly Heart Disease Study
* Emergency planning

* Category

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