Binley and Willenhall place based profile

Life expectancy

Why is this important?

Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are extremely important summary measures of overall population health. The Marmot Review, Fair Society, Healthy Lives, demonstrates clear and significant links between avoidable differences in health outcomes and deprivation, where people experiencing multiple deprivation not only living shorter lives, but spend a greater portion of their shorter lives with a disability or in poor health. As a Marmot city, Coventry has adopted and embedded the principles of Marmot, tackling the social conditions that can lead to health inequalities, and working to improve the areas in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.

What is the local picture? How does it compare?

There are health inequalities across Coventry whereby areas with higher levels of deprivation tend to have lower life expectancy, Binley and Willenhall are one of those areas. Willenhall has one of the lowest life expectancies in the city, Ernesford Grange is below average, while Binley is above average. Life expectancy is a statistic giving a high-level picture of the health of Coventry residents and should be used with care in understanding likely life spans for people; excess deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic will have had a negative impact on life expectancy statistics but this may not have a permanent impact. Whilst this data includes 2020 and the pandemic will have undoubtedly affected mortality statistics, life expectancy increases had already stalled before 2020. Like all areas, male life expectancy at birth (LE) is lower than for females. During 2016-2020 the LE amongst males and females living in Willenhall was amongst the very lowest of all areas in Coventry, at 71.3 and 78.6 years respectively compared to the overall figures for Coventry of 78.1 and 82.1 years.

The most recent data shows Binley has higher-than-average life expectancy, surpassing both Coventry and national averages, while Ernesford Grange & Stoke Aldermoor have lower-than-average figures.

Source: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities 2022, Crown Copyright.

Health inequalities across the city mean that people in more deprived parts of the city not only live shorter lives, but also spend a greater proportion of their shorter lives in poor health. The gap between healthy life expectancy and life expectancy is referred to as the ‘window of need’. It is the average number of years that a person can expect to live with poor health, during which they will be likely to need support from the health and care system.

Healthy life expectancy (HLE) and life expectancy (LE) at birth data is captured at the MSOA level. The following data table shows the LE, HLE and ‘window of need’ data for the three MSOAs that are part of the area, although it should be noted that only part of one of the MSOAs is within Binley and Willenhall, Ernesford Grange is part of the area, Stoke Aldermoor in not. The table illustrates the extent of the disparity between the areas, the city and England:

Source: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Crown Copyright.

*The most up to date figures available at local level for healthy life expectancy, data for LE is presented for the same period to accurately calculate the ‘window of need’. The data for 2016-20 LE in the table above is the best to use to understand LE alone. This is the most up to date data at MSOA level, for more up to date information for Coventry City as a whole please see our Citywide profile

While the gap between healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in Coventry is bigger than that of England as a whole, the gap between them for the people in the Willenhall MSOA is even bigger and more so in females. The window of need for Willenhall is 3.5 years longer than the city average for females at 23.8 years, and 3.6 years longer than the city average for males at 20.3 years.

Premature mortality (deaths amongst residents aged under 75 years) is considerably higher in Willenhall than the city overall and national average. Premature mortality rates are significantly higher than the city average in Willenhall for all major causes. Premature mortality is defined as deaths amongst residents aged under 75 years of age.

The following table shows age standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for deaths aged under 75, an SMR of 100 represents a mortality rate the same as the national average given the age structure of the population. It illustrates how big the gap is between the areas of Binley and Willenhall, and Coventry:

Source: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, produced from Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

*SMRs are age standardised death rates that allow mortality rates for areas with different age structures to be compared. ** Deaths which could be avoided by public health or primary care interventions.

Binley has lower mortality rates in all four indicators than the city average and is substantially lower than Willenhall. Willenhall ranks as having the highest premature mortality rates of all areas in Coventry for deaths from all causes, deaths from all cancers and preventable deaths. Willenhall’s rate is particularly high for premature deaths from causes considered preventable, these are where all or most deaths from the underlying cause could mainly be avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions. The area ranks as having the 4th highest mortality rate in deaths from circulatory disease.

Ernesford Grange and Stoke Aldermoor sits somewhere between Binley and Willenhall however it is more closely aligned with the city average in all indicators above.

What else is happening? What else can be done?

Preventable deaths can be avoided by addressing the social conditions that lead to poor health, such as people’s prospects and opportunities; housing and environment; as well as behavioural and lifestyle changes. These are explored throughout this JSNA.

Health protection

Why is this important?

Health Protection is a term used to cover a set of activities within public health. It is defined as protecting individual, groups and populations from single cases of infectious disease, incidents and outbreaks, and non-infectious environmental hazards such as chemicals and radiation. Monitoring health protection coverage helps to identify possible drops in immunity before levels of disease rise.

Before the introduction of widespread immunisation and vaccinations, infectious and communicable diseases (that is, diseases that can spread from one person or living organism to another) were a major and widespread cause of death and permanent disability, especially among children.

To stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and ensure herd immunity, it is important to maintain 95% vaccination coverage. Monitoring health protection coverage helps to identify possible drops in immunity before levels of disease rise. The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of health protection and vaccination. Data on Covid-19 for this area was not yet available at time of writing this profile.

What is the local picture? How does it compare?

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic changed all our lives and had impacts on a global scale. Not only did it have direct health impacts, but it also had many indirect and varied impacts on several aspects of life. Like every area, many people from Binley and Willenhall contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic, a total of 5,811 cases were recorded for residents of the area between March 2020 and 31st May 2022, a case rate of 321.6 per 1,000 residents, similar to the overall city rate for this period of 324.8. These figures may not capture all cases due to unreported or asymptomatic infections. The prevalence of 'long COVID' in the area is unknown, but the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates the prevalence of self-reported long COVID at 2.92% of all people living in private households in the UK in March 2023.

COVID-19 death rates varied by area, with higher rates in more deprived areas. Binley saw 30 deaths with the underlying cause being given as COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022 with a Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) of 96.4, below the national average. Willenhall had 18 deaths and an SMR of 129.4, while the number of deaths was lower in Willenhall, this was because the area is home to relatively few older people. An SMR is an age standardised rate, it takes account of differing age profile and adjusts, allowing fair comparison of mortality rates between areas with different population age profiles: Willenhall’s age standardised death rate was not amongst the highest in the city however, there are Coventry areas with lower levels of deprivation that had higher COVID-19 mortality rates. Ernesford Grange & Stoke Aldermoor had an SMR of 213.7, over twice the national average and amongst the highest in the whole city. This indicates that rates may have been high in neighbourhoods of Binley and Willenhall – Ernesford Grange; but it may be that it was particularly high in Stoke Aldermoor which is outside the area and less so in Ernesford Grange, it is unclear.

Vaccination rates in Binley and Willenhall were higher than the city average, with 74.4% (13,159 residents aged 12+) receiving their first dose and 70.1% (12,398) their second by December 2023. Rates were higher among older residents, with 94.7% of those 65+ receiving the first dose. However, vaccination rates were lower in more deprived areas, with Willenhall uptake rates for two doses at 63.1% for all aged 12+ and 90.3% for people aged 65 years and over compared to 81.7% and 95.4% in Binley.

The pandemic impacted more than just physical health, with restrictions affecting mental health. The ONS conduct an annual survey where they ask people about their personal wellbeing, it indicates increased levels of anxiety amongst Coventry’s population during the pandemic. Anxiety levels rose from 20.6% in 2019/20 to 26.9% in 2020/21.

Responses to questions in the Coventry Household Survey 2022 give indications as to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on people lives, people were asked how worried they were about the impact of COVID-19 on their financial situation, their diet, their mental health, their physical health, and their feeling of loneliness; on a scale of 0-10, those scoring 7 or higher are classed as ‘worried’. Survey responses from Binley and Willenhall show similar concerns to city averages: 46% worried about finances (vs. 40% in Coventry), 25% about diet (vs. 22%), 32% about physical health (vs. 31%), 39% about mental health (vs. 38%), and 35% about loneliness (vs. 28%).

Overall, there are some indications that mental ill health is a little more prevalent than average for Coventry in Binley and Willenhall. The latest data reported by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities based on GP data for the year 2021/22 indicates that there is a 13.1% prevalence of depression recorded for adults aged 18 and over registered at GP based in Binley and Willenhall (Coventry average 11.9%). However, there is a wide range of proportions by GP practice within the ward, from 5.7% to 15.2%. The recent trend appears to be increasing numbers of recorded depression in three of the four practices, the exception being the practice with the lowest recorded percentage. While it is low, the proportion of patients at GP practices in the area who have been diagnosed with some specific mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses, is higher than the city average at 1.12% compared to 0.95% across the city overall.

Uptake rates in Binley and Willenhall are below the 95% threshold for several different childhood vaccinations. While update varies across the GPs in the area and between different vaccinations, generally, overall vaccination rates amongst children in this area are around average for Coventry. According to the latest Office for Health Improvement and Disparities data from 2021/22, childhood uptake rates for most different vaccinations are generally lower in Coventry than the national average.

Uptake rates in the 12-month vaccines (MenB, PCV1, Rota and the 4-in-1 DTAPIPVHibHepB) range between 78.2% and 96.1% for the practices in the Binley and Willenhall ward. Most local practices see rates above the city and national averages in the PCV1 vaccine and half of the local practices see rates above the city and national averages in the MenB, Rota and 4-in-1 vaccines.

The 24-month vaccines consist of another 4-in-1 (which we do not have city/national figures for), Bip/MenC, MenB booster, MMR1 and a PCV booster. Again, half of the local practices have favourable uptakes for these vaccines when compared to the national average while the other half do not have significantly lower rates – uptake ranges between 85.7% and 97.3%.

Uptake rates for the 5-year DTaP/IPV vaccine range between 88.2% and 97.3%, higher than both the city figure of 83.3% and the national figure of 84.2%. Most local practices have equal-to-or-higher uptake rates than the city (92.9%) for the 5-year MMR1. Half of the local practices have higher uptake rates than city (84.6%) and national (85.7%) figures for the 5-year MMR2 vaccine.

Vaccination rates for key cohorts of people eligible to receive the annual seasonal Flu vaccine are lower than the national average across Coventry overall; in Binley and Willenhall rates vary across the GP practices in the area. Flu Vaccines help protect against the main types of flu virus circulating and are offered to a range at risk groups of people including children, people aged 65 and over and pregnant women. Flu vaccination rates in most groups that are eligible in Binley and Willenhall are lower than national average rates and vary with rates at some GPs lower than the Coventry average and others higher. Indications are that uptake rates amongst people in Willenhall are slightly lower than the city average and slightly higher in Binley.

The vaccine uptake rates for this area’s GPs, for Coventry overall and England for 2022/23 can be seen in the table below.

Source: ImmForm, UK Health Security Agency

HIV remains an important public health concern in Coventry, some parts of Binley and Willenhall have rates amongst the highest in the city. In 2021, the diagnosed HIV prevalence rate in 2021 was 3.2 per 1,000 compared to 2.3 per 1,000 in England, making Coventry the 32nd highest prevalence out of 150 local authority areas. Willenhall and Ernesford Grange & Stoke Aldermoor had a prevalence of 5-10 per 1,000 15–59-year-olds, making these areas higher than the city average. Conversely, Binley has a prevalence of <1 per 1,000.

The following heatmap shows the prevalence of diagnosed HIV per MSOA across Coventry:

Source: UKHSA HIV and AIDS Reporting System (HARS). https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/static-reports/sexualhealth-reports/2023/E08000026.html?area-name=Coventry#hiv

What else is happening? What else can be done?

The citywide JSNA identified that a culturally competent approach that recognises and makes best use of the assets of the city’s diverse communities is essential. This includes working with local community and religious groups to encourage take-up of vaccination, diagnosis and screening programmes.

Ensuring communities understand and trust public health messages, and that they are accessible and culturally appropriate is vital. Coventry has a very diverse and active voluntary and community sector with many small and well-connected groups, it is also blessed with many community leaders and “go to” people in local neighbourhoods. During the pandemic the Community Resilience Team created Community Messengers who consisted of existing faith, voluntary and community networks in the city. The number of messengers has now grown to 320. The messengers perform two main functions: -

• they help to disseminate into their community the “stay safe” messages.
• they collect and feedback community intelligence which is then used to influence a number of things such as improving our communication materials, focusing our interventions and deploying our local
  teams of COVID-19 advisors.

Young people were included through a partnership with The Positive Youth Foundation, a charity that supports young people in the Coventry area (and who chair the Coventry Youth Partnership), and a series of focus groups held with young people and the council’s communications team helped the development of
specific messaging for young people, including several videos.

Community members now have a platform and a chance to participate directly in shaping how the council and communities engage with each other. This helps to facilitate a community-led response to communications and messaging surrounding several topics.

There is increasing recognition of the key role that places and communities play in our health. Community groups are best placed to address health challenges, because they are trusted and have the networks understanding and legitimacy to do so. Health and care providers need to shift to an ‘enabling’ leadership style, supporting communities to maintain their health and well being by pooling engagement resources and helping to build capacity by sharing skills and facilities with the communities we serve. The One Coventry Plan is designed to work with our communities to ensure that they are able to address their health needs and to reduce inequalities.

Since 2021, Coventry was successfully awarded funding to deliver the Healthy Communities Together (HCT) programme. This programme is funded by the National Lottery and aims to support local areas to develop effective and sustainable partnerships between the voluntary and community sector, the NHS and local authorities to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities and empower communities.

A community-informed and culturally competent approach to healthcare is essential to increasing screening and vaccination rates. Asylum seekers and refugees typically have worse health than the wider migrant and UK-born population. During migration they are vulnerable to environmental threats – e.g., trafficking, and sexual exploitation – and may have experienced gender-based violence – e.g., torture, sexual violence, FGM, and conflict - that lead to health problems. They, and other newly arrived communities, can also spend long periods of their journey with limited access to healthcare which presents challenges in the form of poorly-managed long-term conditions – e.g., diabetes, and hypertension – and untreated communicable diseases such as TB, HIV and STIs. Newly arrived communities are at increased risk of poor mental health too potentially suffering with anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Therefore, newly arrived communities need healthcare on arrival and information and guidance about the NHS, what services are available, and about their health care rights. The impact of language and cultural barriers cannot be understated so services should be culturally appropriate, and trauma informed.

Building on existing health and wellbeing infrastructures having a collaborative partnership approach, bringing together residents’ experience and partners’ skills and assets, should be taken to strengthen health and wellbeing in communities. An example of this is Vaccinating Coventry – a partnership group with membership from a range of council teams with a focus on improving vaccine uptake inequality across the city. While vaccine uptake across Coventry and Warwickshire has been good, early in the vaccination programme data started to reveal areas of Coventry with much lower uptake, particularly among minority ethnic groups and those living in more deprived areas. The work of the group is linked tightly with wider COVID-19 prevention inequality work, focused upon access to testing, understanding of and adherence to national guidelines.

Demand and access

Why is this important?

The demand for health and care services is expected to increase as the city’s population grows and ages. To manage this growth there is a need to shift the emphasis to proactive and preventative care. This means ensuring people have better general health regardless of where they live, requiring fewer visits to hospital and shorter stays if they need inpatient care; and remodelling urgent and emergency and planned care so that it can cater to the expected increase in demand.

What is the local picture? How does it compare?

Binley and Willenhall residents have good access to health services, with most residents being able to reach a GP and a pharmacy within a few minutes. GP coverage of the Binley and Willenhall area is relatively good, with four GP practices and a GP practice branch located within the boundaries of the ward, as illustrated by the following map (n.b. the practice branch belongs to Kenyon Medical Centres, which is also within the boundary of the ward).

Map: Locations of GP practices around the area of Binley and Willenhall, with walking distances highlighted

Data source: Shape Place, Department of Health & Social Care

The darkest green areas are within a five-minute walk from each GP whereas the lightest yellow represents a 15-minute walk. As shown above, almost all residents of the ward are able to access a GP within 15 minutes’ walk. All residents are within a five-minute car journey or within a 15-minute journey using public transport.

The ratio of GPs per 10,000 of the population is relatively good compared with other areas and the city in general, with 15.1 direct patient care staff per 10,000 patients and 10.9 full time equivalent staff (FTE) per 10,000. There are 11.0 direct patient care staff and 8.3 FTEs per 10,000 of the population for the city as a whole.

Overall, satisfaction with the above GPs is relatively good compared with the city as a whole and nationally. Although, as in generally the case in many areas, there are indications that satisfaction with local GPs has reduced in recent years. Using the latest GP survey data, we can establish patient satisfaction based on three key questions around overall experience, obtaining an appointment via telephone and satisfaction with appointment lead times.

When asked ‘Overall, how would you describe your experience of your GP practice?’, 73% of respondents indicated that their experience was good or very good. This is very much on par with the city and England, where 71% of respondents of both groups determined that their experience was good or very good. Overall satisfaction has decreased in all groups since 2019, when satisfaction in the ward, city and England was 82%, 81% and 83% respectively.

When asked ‘Generally, how easy is it to get through to someone at your GP practice on the phone?’, 68% of respondents indicated that it was easy or very easy. This is above the city average (59%) and substantially above the national figure (50%), suggesting that it is easier to get through to their GP in this area than the rest of the city. The ease with which respondents can contact their GPs via the phone is another area where there has been a decrease since 2019: area, city and national figures for this year were 75%, 70% and 69% respectively.

When asked ‘How satisfied are you with the general practice appointment times that are available to you?’, 62% of respondents indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied compared to 58% for the city and 53% nationally. This implies that waiting times are shorter in this particular ward compared to the city and nationally. Again, the level of satisfaction has decreased since 2019 but the change is relatively small at the ward level: 64% of residents then indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied; the change is relatively bigger in the city and nationally, where 65% of respondents in both groups were satisfied or very satisfied with appointment times.

Pharmacy coverage in the Binley and Willenhall ward is also relatively good, with six pharmacies distributed mainly in the north-east and south-west of the area. The majority of the ward is within a 15-minute walk of one of the pharmacies as illustrated by the areas highlighted in yellow on the below map.

The whole area is within a five-minute car journey and most of the area is within a 10-minute journey by means of public transport.

What else is happening? What else can be done?

A social gradient approach focusing on people’s prospects and opportunities, housing and environment and lifestyle factors can help improve outcomes, reduce inequality and reducing premature mortality.

The citywide JSNA identified that a culturally competent approach that recognises and makes best use of the assets of the city’s diverse communities is essential. This includes working with local community and religious groups to encourage take-up of vaccination, diagnosis and screening programmes

​As part of the Adult Social Care Service, the council are working more closely with other organisations to improve the outcomes for adults. The Improving Lives programme is a partnership programme, led by Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System, bringing together University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust and the Council to work as one service. It aims to enhance patient experiences, prevent hospital admissions, and improve hospital discharge processes. The program focuses on effective care through three sub-programs: Interfaces, Hospital Processes at UHCW, and One Coventry Integrated Team. Its key goals are to promote independent living and simplify care delivery through partner collaboration.

Working together in partnership is vital to delivering services to residents. The Working Together Group; an alliance of CWPT, VSCE, and Primary Care in Coventry and Warwickshire, aims to strengthen partnership working within the voluntary, community, faith and not for profit social enterprise sector.

Healthcare pressures, particularly in rapidly growing areas, are a concern to residents in the area. As populations increase, local health services often struggle to keep up with rising demand. This leads to longer wait times, reduced access to primary care, and overburdened facilities, which disproportionately affects vulnerable groups such as the elderly, low-income families, and people with chronic health conditions. Addressing these pressures requires a multifaceted approach, including investment in healthcare infrastructure, hiring more medical professionals, and improving access to preventive care, especially in areas experiencing rapid population growth.

Lifestyles

Why is this important?

Individual behaviours such as eating enough fruits and vegetables, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity can affect health. These lifestyle behaviours are strongly influenced by the environment in which people live. For example, people living in a ‘food desert’, with limited access to affordable and healthy food, are more likely to eat unhealthily; an unsafe environment is likely to discourage people from walking or cycling; and social and cultural influences, including friendship groups, advertising and media, play an important role in determining people’s lifestyles.

These lifestyle risk factors – poor diet, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking – are all linked to ill health and premature death. Having a combination of risk factors contributes to greater ill health. People facing poorer social circumstances are more at risk of having multiple risk factors, exacerbating avoidable differences in health.

What is the local picture? How does it compare?

Household survey data indicates a mixed picture on physical activity for the residents of Binley and Willenhall, but most notably there are relatively low rates of everyday activity when compared to the city average, particularly in Willenhall. 18% of residents indicated that they partook in no everyday activity, above the city average of 11%. In a similar trend to that of diet, there is again a difference at MSOA level: only 5% of respondents from Binley partook in no everyday activity vs 25% in Willenhall.

Meanwhile, there is a shift when it comes to recreational activity. The data indicates that only 14% of Binley & Willenhall residents do not participate in any recreational activity. Compared to the city average of 24%, this suggests that residents of the ward are more likely to partake in recreational activities. Residents of Willenhall are seemingly more active in a recreational sense than those from Binley, with only 9% of respondents indicating they do not partake in recreational activity compared to 27% from Binley.

This is reflected in the number of people in the ward responding that they do not participate in any sports: only 30% of respondents indicated that they partook in no sporting activity, compared to 41% for Coventry as a whole. Again, residents in Willenhall are more likely to play sports compared to Binley: 26% of Willenhall respondents partook in no sports compared to 47% in Binley.

The prevalence of smoking among residents of Binley and Willenhall is substantially higher than Coventry as a whole, Willenhall specifically has the highest rate of smoking in the city. 26% of residents are current smokers of tobacco products and 15% are users of e-cigarettes, compared to 11% and 7% for the city respectively. The proportion of smokers by constituent neighbourhoods of the area is heavily skewed towards Willenhall, with 38% smoking tobacco products and 20% smoking e-cigarettes compared to only 5% smoking tobacco and 5% using e-cigarettes in Binley.

Overall amongst all adults, alcohol consumption in Binley and Willenhall appears to be lower than the city average, however hospital admissions for alcohol related conditions is significantly worse in Willenhall compared to the city overall. In the 2022 Household Surey,15% of respondents indicated that they drink alcohol more than once a week and out of those that do drink alcohol, 20% drink more than 2+ units at least twice per week. The city average for the same indicators is 25% and 24% respectively. The response data indicates that overall the residents of Binley drink more often than those from Willenhall, with 19% of the former vs 11% of the latter drinking on two or more days a week and out of those that do drink, 22% of Binley residents drink more than 2+ units at least twice per week, vs 17% of those from Willenhall.

Alcohol consumption is a contributing factor to hospital admissions and deaths from a diverse range of conditions. Alcohol is causing disproportionate harm to health in Willenhall. Alcohol-related admissions can be reduced through local interventions to reduce alcohol misuse and harm. The following table illustrates the admission rates for Binley and Willenhall MSOAs due to alcohol attributable conditions.

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) NHS Digital

The rates of admission are lower in Binley compared to the city average but the rates in Willenhall are significantly higher. Comparing the relatively low proportion for the whole population that drink alcohol with these high rates of hospital admission related to alcohol in Willenhall may suggest that those relatively low number of people who do drink, consume a relatively high amount. It could also suggest that the surveys may not be capturing the cross section of residents in the above emergency admission data set.

The importance of eating healthy food remains well recognised by most residents, but there are indications that some aspects of diet are poorer in this area overall and the price of food is a particular concern for residents in Binley and Willenhall. According to the latest 2022 Household Survey data, the proportion of households eating five portions of fruit and vegetables per day is low, with only 21% in the whole of Coventry indicating that they eat the recommended amount. The proportion of households in Binley and Willenhall eating the recommended portion is lower than the city average: 17% of ward respondents said they followed the recommendation. However, there is some disparity between the MSOAs which make up the ward: while only 8% of respondents in Willenhall indicate that they eat the recommended daily amount, 29% of those in Binley said they ate five portions of fruit or vegetables per day.

The proportion of households eating takeaways at least once a week in Binley and Willenhall is 42%, which is higher than the city average of 28%. However, much like the recommended portions of fruit and vegetables, there is a similar disparity between Binley and Willenhall MSOAs: 60% of respondents from Willenhall indicated that they ate takeaways on a regular basis (which is the second highest in the city) compared to 33% in Binley.

When it comes to the price of food as a factor in food purchase, 75% of ward respondents agreed. This is higher than the Coventry average, where only 66% of respondents agreed that the price of food was a factor in purchasing. This suggests that the residents of the ward are more likely to choose what to buy based on its price, compared to Coventry as a whole. In terms of cooking at home, 76% of ward respondents indicated that they have everything in the kitchen to cook a meal. This is slightly lower than the Coventry average of 81% however it is not a statistically significant difference.

Using the latest National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) data or the 3 years covering 2019/20 to 2021/22, childhood obesity rates vary by neighbourhoods in Binley and Willenhall, with higher than average rates in Willenhall and indications of such for Ernesford Grange, and lower than average rates in Binley. 8.3% of reception-aged children (4-5 years) in Binley are classed as obese, whereas 14.4% of the same age group in Ernesford Grange & Stoke Aldermoor and 13.5% of children in Willenhall are also classed as obese. This is compared to 10.8% for Coventry overall. The data indicates that the area’s rate of obesity increases in line with that of the city between the ages of 5 and 11 i.e. children are becoming increasingly obese as they get older, with the latest data showing that 17.5% of children measured in school year 6 (aged 10-11 years) are obese in Binley, 24.0% in Ernesford Grange & Stoke Aldermoor and 28.4% in Willenhall. This is compared to the city average at this time of 24.8%.

What else is happening? What else can be done?

Services in the area work well together to provide support and projects for vulnerable groups. Coventry Citizen’s Advice deliver projects to support people affected by Cancer. The Macmillan project delivers essential benefits advice services to people affected by cancer through a new model of integrated support, the Major Trauma project supports those in hospital who have suffered major trauma, and the TB/HIV project is directed at individuals who have TB/HIV.