Photo: Bill Nicholls · CC BY-SA 2.0People in Cold Ash live longer than in 96% of UK towns: 86.5 for men and 87.3 for women
For 2019 to 2023, England’s figures are 79.1 and 83.0. Cold Ash grades A+ for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age.
What stands out about health in Cold Ash
A&E waits run longer than England’s, but fewer patients wait 12 hours for a bed
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, saw 50% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 104th of 117 trusts. 0.5% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
Fewer of Cold Ash’s children are obese
14% of Year 6 children (aged 10 to 11) were measured as obese over the last three school years, against 22.3% across England; fewer than in 85% of UK towns. Health Grade ↓
Written from the OHID, NHS England and GP Patient Survey figures on this page. Life expectancy covers 2019 to 2023; neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas of about 8,000 people.
Cold Ash grades A+ for health
Healthier than almost every UK town, on age-adjusted measures.
Ahead of the typical UK town on every measure. Even its weakest, child obesity and women’s years in good health, are in the top 20% of UK towns; men’s life expectancy and Census bad health lead. Among the 584 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000 people, Cold Ash’s Health Grade is the 5th highest.
Each measure is ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more, the ranks are averaged, and the average is ranked again. Every measure allows for the town’s ages: life expectancy is worked out from the death rate at each age, so it doesn’t depend on how old the town’s residents are; deaths and admissions are counted against what England’s rates would give a town with these ages, and the Census answers against England and Wales’s rates by single year of age, so a seaside town of retired people isn’t marked down for being old.
Hampshire Hospitals saw 50% of major-A&E patients within four hours
Type 1 (major) A&E attendances seen, admitted or discharged within four hours of arrival, by month. NHS England publishes it by trust, not hospital: Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, the nearest to Cold Ash (12 mi).
The share seen within four hours slipped from an average of 58% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 48% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 92% of trusts: 220 patients in 12 months, 0.5% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2026), the hospital overall good (2026).
South East trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.9 mi | West Berkshire Community Hospital Thatcham · Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | Good2020 | — |
| 12 mi | Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital A&E Basingstoke · Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 13 mi | Royal Berkshire Hospital A&E Reading · Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | Good2024 | Good2018 |
| 17 mi | Townlands Memorial Hospital Henley-on-thames · Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 18 mi | Andover War Memorial Hospital Andover · Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2020 | — |
| 21 mi | Great Western Hospital A&E Swindon · Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Requires improvement2025 |
| 22 mi | Churchill Hospital Oxford · Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2019 | — |
| 23 mi | John Radcliffe Hospital A&E Oxford · Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2019 |
NHS acute hospitals registered with the Care Quality Commission (care directory, 01 October 2026). “A&E” marks a major (type 1) emergency department, open 24 hours and led by consultants, in NHS England’s Emergency Care Data Set; a hospital without the mark may still have a minor injury unit or urgent treatment centre. Ratings run Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement, Inadequate; the year is when each was published. Distances are straight lines from the town centre.
Care in and near Cold Ash
The nearest A&E, GP practices, and where to go when it’s urgent but not an emergency. In an emergency, call 999.
No GP practice in Cold Ash itself
The nearest practices.
| Practice | Distance | CQC rating |
|---|---|---|
| Thatcham Health Centre Thatcham RG18 3HD | 1.9 mi | Good2016 |
| Burdwood Surgery Thatcham RG19 4YF | 2.6 mi | Good2026 |
| The Downland Practice Newbury RG20 8UY | 2.9 mi | Good2016 |
| Strawberry Hill Medical Centre Newbury RG14 1JU | 3 mi | Good2019 |
| Eastfield House Surgery Newbury RG14 7LW | 3.4 mi | Good2018 |
| The Bucklebury Practice Reading RG7 6NS | 4.3 mi | Not rated |
GP practices registered with the Care Quality Commission, placed in the town by their postcode. A practice counts as in Cold Ash when its surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. You can register with any practice whose area covers your address.
84% of adults in the Thames Valley area who tried got an NHS dental appointment
Adults who tried to get an NHS dental appointment for themselves in the last two years, and got one. GP Patient Survey 2026, by integrated care system (the NHS area that plans dentistry for Cold Ash).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Thames Valley patients who did, 75% rated the experience good (England 74%). NHS practices taking new patients are listed on the NHS website’s Find a dentist; for urgent dental pain, call NHS 111.
The survey asks GP patients about dentistry, so results are published for health areas, not towns or practices.
More people in Cold Ash call their health good than across Berkshire
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 30 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Cold Ash | Berkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 90% | 87% | 82% |
| Fair health | 8.5% | 10% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 1.5% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 12% | 13% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 3.3% | 4.8% | 7.4% |
Berkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Cold Ash’s Health Grade is 5th of 584 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Cold Ash, and others in Berkshire. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collingham West Yorkshire | 2,362 | 86.0 / 88.4 | 45 | A+ |
| 2 | Seer Green Buckinghamshire | 2,582 | 83.2 / 87.9 | 55 | A+ |
| 3 | Limpsfield Surrey | 2,247 | 84.1 / 87.2 | 51 | A+ |
| 4 | Hermitage Berkshire | 2,224 | 86.5 / 87.3 | 55 | A+ |
| 5 | Cold Ash Berkshire | 2,267 | 86.5 / 87.3 | 55 | A+ |
| 6 | Mayfield East Sussex | 2,253 | 84.3 / 86.9 | 46 | A+ |
| 7 | Long Crendon Buckinghamshire | 2,495 | 87.3 / 88.7 | 53 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Wargrave Berkshire | 2,896 | 83.6 / 85.4 | 55 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 112 | Mortimer Berkshire | 2,932 | 81.6 / 85.6 | 75 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 117 | Eton Wick Berkshire | 2,121 | 82.2 / 87.7 | 71 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 584 | Fallin Stirling | 2,769 | 71.1 / 75.5 | — | D− |
Health letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only. Welsh towns are graded on life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and the two Census measures: OHID’s early-death, admissions and child-obesity figures cover England.
Health in the places around Cold Ash
Life expectancy for men / women, and the nearest A&E. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | People | Life expectancy | Nearest A&E | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold Ash | 2,267 | 86.5 / 87.3 | 12 mi | A+ |
| Hermitage | 2,224 | 86.5 / 87.3 | 13 mi | A+ |
| Thatcham | 25,537 | 80.0 / 84.2 | 11 mi | B− |
| Upper Bucklebury | 1,036 | 83.0 / 88.0 | 11 mi | A |
| Newbury | 42,262 | 79.6 / 84.5 | 12 mi | B− |
| Compton | 1,789 | 82.8 / 85.4 | 13 mi | A+ |
| Upper Basildon | 1,074 | 86.0 / 87.7 | 8.4 mi | A+ |
| Woolton Hill and Highclere | 2,755 | 82.4 / 87.3 | 13 mi | A+ |
Newbury, 3.3 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 79.6, 6.9 years shorter than Cold Ash’s.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A&E figures are for the trust. NHS England publishes four-hour waits by trust, not hospital, so Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s figures cover every major A&E it runs. They count type 1 (major) departments; minor injury units and urgent treatment centres are left out, which is why they sit below the all-types figure NHS England headlines (75% for England).
- Adjusted for age. A ratio of 100 means as many deaths, admissions or reports of bad health as England’s rates (England and Wales’s for the Census) would give a town with these ages; 120 means a fifth more.
- Small areas, summed to the town. OHID publishes these figures for middle-layer areas of about 8,000 people; the town’s figure averages the areas it covers, weighted by how many of their residents live in it, so a village shares its area’s figure with the countryside around it.
- Different years. Life expectancy and deaths cover 2019 to 2023; emergency admissions 2016/17 to 2020/21 (the latest OHID publishes for small areas, including the pandemic dip); child obesity the three school years to 2024/25; A&E the 12 months to September 2026; the GP Patient Survey early 2026; CQC ratings were published on different dates, shown in each row.
- Distances are straight lines. Miles are measured from the town’s centre to each site; the road is longer. For an emergency, call 999; for urgent advice, call NHS 111.
Questions about health in Cold Ash
How healthy is Cold Ash?
Cold Ash earns an A+ for health, healthier than almost every UK town on measures adjusted for age, and 5th of 584 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 86.5 for men and 87.3 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 55 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 50% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 48%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Cold Ash?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 84% of adults in the Thames Valley area who tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the last two years got one, against 82% across England. Practices taking new NHS patients are listed on the NHS website’s Find a dentist service.
How many GP practices are there in Cold Ash?
There’s no GP surgery inside Cold Ash itself; the nearest is about 1.9 mi away.
What is the life expectancy in Cold Ash?
86.5 years for men and 87.3 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 74.7 of those years and women 73.6 in good health.
CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
Sources: OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (life expectancy and deaths 2019–23, emergency admissions 2016/17–2020/21, NCMP 2022/23–2024/25); House of Commons Library MSOA names · ONS health state life expectancy for small areas (MSOAs), England and Wales, 2019 to 2023 (healthy life expectancy) · ONS Census 2021 general health and disability, adjusted for age · Care Quality Commission care directory and latest ratings, 01 October 2026 · NHS Organisation Data Service · GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos) · NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions (monthly, by trust) and Emergency Care Data Set activity by site, June–September 2026 (type 1 A&Es) · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025 · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.