Photo: Mr Ignavy · CC BY-SA 2.0Across Reading, life expectancy spans 12 years from one area to another
Inside the city, men’s life expectancy runs from 73.8 in Norcot North to 86.0 in Lower Earley South, 5 miles apart. Life expectancy is 79.6 for men and 83.5 for women. For 2019 to 2023, England’s figures are 79.1 and 83.0. Reading grades C+ 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 Reading
A 12-year gap from one part of Reading to another
Men in Lower Earley South can expect to live to 86.0, longer than the English average of 79.1. In Norcot North, 5 miles away, the figure is 73.8, and Coley Park records 175 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected for its ages. For women the range is 77.9 in Coley Park to 88.2 in Lower Earley South. Neighbourhoods ↓
More A&E patients are seen within four hours than across England
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at Royal Berkshire Hospital, saw 66% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 28th of 117 trusts. 0.8% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
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.
Reading grades C+ for health
Healthier than 39% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: deaths under 75 and preventable deaths (better than 20% and 25% of UK towns). What lifts it: disability (70%) and Census bad health (57%). Among the 44 UK towns of 143,000 to 275,000 people, Reading’s Health Grade is the 13th 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.
Men’s life expectancy across Reading runs from 73.8 to 86.0
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Reading’s 22 middle-layer neighbourhoods (about 8,000 people each). Circles are sized by residents and show men’s life expectancy.
The gap follows deprivation closely: Kennet Island & Green Park, where 34% of residents are income-deprived, has men’s life expectancy of 75.9. Coley Park has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (175 per 100 expected), against 67 in Lower Earley South.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Earley South | 86.0 | 88.2 | 67 | 72 | 17% | 6.5% |
| Lower Earley North | 85.1 | 87.7 | 46 | 65 | 11% | 4.7% |
| Calcot North & Little Heath | 84.3 | 87.0 | 69 | 79 | 20% | 12% |
| Tilehurst North | 84.3 | 88.0 | 63 | 83 | 20% | 11% |
| Earley | 83.8 | 87.9 | 66 | 74 | 18% | 10% |
| Purley on Thames | 81.7 | 86.7 | 82 | 68 | 12% | 9.1% |
| Westwood | 81.6 | 86.7 | 59 | 78 | 18% | 6% |
| Calcot South | 81.5 | 87.1 | 71 | 85 | 19% | 18% |
| Shinfield | 81.1 | 83.6 | 80 | 80 | 20% | 11% |
| Palmer Park | 80.9 | 82.1 | 98 | 97 | 24% | 25% |
| Southcote | 80.0 | 81.7 | 119 | 116 | 24% | 25% |
| Norcot South | 79.6 | 83.8 | 105 | 103 | 26% | 22% |
| Wokingham Road | 79.2 | 83.3 | 84 | 85 | 17% | 12% |
| Tilehurst South | 78.5 | 83.9 | 113 | 115 | 23% | 28% |
| Whitley Wood | 78.1 | 80.6 | 129 | 129 | 23% | 27% |
| Central Reading South | 76.9 | 78.3 | 151 | — | 22% | 18% |
| Battle & Caversham Bridge | 76.5 | 87.6 | 111 | 96 | 30% | 28% |
| Leighton Park | 76.4 | 83.0 | 110 | 87 | 24% | 22% |
| Kennet Island & Green Park | 75.9 | 79.1 | 136 | 129 | 30% | 34% |
| Southampton Street & Redlands Road | 75.7 | 82.4 | 121 | 93 | 22% | 18% |
| Coley Park | 75.1 | 77.9 | 175 | 103 | 23% | 25% |
| Norcot North | 73.8 | 78.5 | 155 | 127 | 28% | 32% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Norcot North’s men’s life expectancy is 73.8 with a 95% range of 72.1 to 75.5. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Reading; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
Royal Berkshire saw 66% 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: Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Royal Berkshire Hospital, the nearest to Reading (0.9 mi).
The share seen within four hours has held near 65% over 18 months. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 88% of trusts: 220 patients in 12 months, 0.8% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Royal Berkshire Hospital: urgent and emergency services good (2018), the hospital overall good (2024).
South East trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.9 mi | Royal Berkshire Hospital A&E Reading · Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | Good2024 | Good2018 |
| 7.1 mi | Townlands Memorial Hospital Henley-on-thames · Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 11 mi | St Marks Hospital Maidenhead · Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 13 mi | Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital A&E Basingstoke · Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 13 mi | Heatherwood Hospital Ascot · Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 13 mi | Heatherwood Hospital Ascot · Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust | Good2019 | — |
| 13 mi | Frimley Park Hospital A&E Camberley · Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust | Good2025 | Good2025 |
| 13 mi | Frimley Park Hospital Renal Unit Camberley · Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
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.
Men’s life expectancy in Reading is about what its level of deprivation predicts
Across 1,996 English towns of 2,500 or more, men’s life expectancy tracks income deprivation closely (correlation −0.81). Each dot is a town.
19% of Reading’s residents are income-deprived, about the middle for English towns. For that level, the line predicts 79.7 years for men; Reading’s is 79.6. For women it predicts 83.5, and Reading’s 83.5 is close to it.
Income deprivation: share of residents in low-income households, English Indices of Deprivation 2025, averaged over each town’s neighbourhoods. A town above or below the line isn’t necessarily doing better or worse on care: students, prisons and hostels inside a boundary all shift the figures.
Care in and near Reading
The nearest A&E, the practice patients rate highest, and where to go when it’s urgent but not an emergency. In an emergency, call 999.
74% of patients rate Reading’s 17 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 26th of 41 English towns of 143,000 to 275,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pembroke Surgery RG1 5PG · 5,391 adult patients | 83% good · range 76%–88% | 81% | 78% | Good2025 |
| Brookside Group Practice RG6 7HG · 24,655 adult patients | 82% good · range 69%–90% | 52% | 65% | Good2017 |
| Parkside Family Practice RG6 1JS · 13,580 adult patients | 78% good · range 65%–88% | 58% | 75% | Good2017 |
| Chatham Street Surgery RG1 7JE · 6,611 adult patients | 78% good · range 69%–85% | 64% | 82% | Good2021 |
| Broad Street Health Centre RG1 7QA · 11,585 adult patients | 78% good · range 61%–89% | 49% | 72% | Good2025 |
| Longbarn Lane Surgery RG2 7SZ · 7,154 adult patients | 78% good · range 70%–84% | 63% | 86% | Good2017 |
| Melrose Surgery, Reading RG1 5BS · 13,514 adult patients | 77% good · range 59%–89% | 59% | 72% | Good2024 |
| Milman & Kennet Surgery RG2 0AR · 16,248 adult patients | 75% good · range 49%–90% | 56% | 73% | Good2017 |
| Drs T A Underwood & M A Thompson RG31 5PP · 12,389 adult patients | 74% good · range 51%–89% | 63% | 72% | Good2026 |
| Grovelands Medical Centre RG30 1HG · 10,950 adult patients | 73% good · range 59%–83% | 45% | 43% | Good2026 |
| University Medical Group RG2 7HE · 26,177 adult patients | 72% good · range 57%–84% | 53% | 82% | Outstanding2019 |
| The Potteries RG30 6BW · 11,739 adult patients | 71% good · range 52%–85% | 33% | 55% | Good2026 |
| London Street Surgery RG1 4SJ · 4,725 adult patients | 68% good · range 63%–74% | 47% | 66% | Good2025 |
| Western Elms Surgery RG30 1AT · 22,199 adult patients | 68% good · range 55%–79% | 52% | 59% | Good2018 |
| Coley Park Surgery RG1 6DN · 6,879 adult patients | 68% good · range 53%–80% | 57% | 59% | Not rated |
| Westwood Road Health Centre RG31 5PR · 5,058 adult patients | 65% good · range 55%–74% | 57% | 53% | Good2023 |
| South Reading Surgery RG2 8LE · 8,730 adult patients | 64% good · range 53%–74% | 50% | 63% | Good2018 |
Pembroke Surgery has the city’s highest rating (83%). University Medical Group is by far the largest, with 26,177 adult patients. You can register with any practice whose area covers your address.
GP Patient Survey 2026: surveys sent January to March 2026; results weighted by NHS England. The range is the 95% confidence interval. Adult patients: the survey’s practice population aged 16 and over. A practice counts as in Reading when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
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 Reading).
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.
86% of residents say their health is good or very good
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 78 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Reading | Berkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 86% | 87% | 82% |
| Fair health | 11% | 10% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.5% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 14% | 13% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 5% | 4.8% | 7.4% |
Berkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Reading’s Health Grade is 13th of 44 UK towns of 143,000 to 275,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Reading, and others in Berkshire. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 82.2 / 86.6 | 64 | A |
| 2 | Kensington and Chelsea London | 143,348 | 81.5 / 86.2 | 72 | B+ |
| 3 | Kingston upon Thames London | 166,333 | 81.1 / 85.3 | 77 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Bexley London | 246,074 | 79.8 / 83.5 | 92 | C+ |
| 12 | Hammersmith and Fulham London | 182,187 | 78.5 / 83.9 | 104 | C+ |
| 13 | Reading Berkshire | 203,789 | 79.6 / 83.5 | 104 | C+ |
| 14 | Havering London | 259,401 | 79.4 / 83.3 | 97 | C+ |
| 15 | Kingswood and Fishponds Gloucestershire | 160,280 | 80.0 / 83.9 | 93 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 21 | Slough Berkshire | 166,868 | 77.8 / 82.4 | 116 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 44 | Blackpool Lancashire | 149,087 | 74.3 / 79.2 | 167 | 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 Reading
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 203,789 | 79.6 / 83.5 | 0.9 mi | C+ |
| Caversham | 33,038 | 82.1 / 86.1 | 1.7 mi | A |
| Shinfield | 5,417 | 81.1 / 83.6 | 3.1 mi | B+ |
| Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross | 7,612 | 82.6 / 85.2 | 3.7 mi | A+ |
| Sonning | 1,615 | 82.2 / 83.4 | 2.5 mi | A− |
| Woodley | 28,019 | 81.3 / 84.7 | 2.6 mi | B+ |
| Theale | 3,053 | 79.5 / 83.8 | 5.2 mi | B− |
| Winnersh | 8,904 | 80.2 / 84.4 | 3.7 mi | B+ |
Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross, 3.4 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 82.6, 3.0 years longer than Reading’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 Royal Berkshire 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).
- The GP survey is a survey. About 100 patients answer for each practice, so a practice’s figure has a range (shown in the table); small differences between practices aren’t meaningful. The town figure weights each practice by its adult patients, some of whom live outside Reading.
- 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 Reading
How healthy is Reading?
Reading earns a C+ for health, healthier than 39% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 13th of 44 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 79.6 for men and 83.5 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 104 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
Which parts of Reading have the highest life expectancy?
For men, Lower Earley South (86.0), Lower Earley North (85.1) and Calcot North & Little Heath (84.3); the shortest is Norcot North (73.8). For women, Lower Earley South is highest (88.2) and Coley Park lowest (77.9). OHID figures for 2019 to 2023, by neighbourhood of about 8,000 people.
How long are A&E waits at Royal Berkshire Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 66% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 63%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Reading?
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.
Which GP practice in Reading do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, Pembroke Surgery (83% good overall), Brookside Group Practice (82% good overall) and Parkside Family Practice (78% good overall). Across all 17 Reading practices, 74% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Reading?
79.6 years for men and 83.5 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 66.3 of those years and women 67.2 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.