Photo: David Weston · CC BY-SA 2.0How long people live in Congleton: 79.6 for men and 83.9 for women
For 2019 to 2023, England’s figures are 79.1 and 83.0. Congleton grades C+ for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #31 of 46 in Cheshire.
What stands out about health in Congleton
A&E waits run longer than England’s
East Cheshire NHS Trust, which runs the A&E at Macclesfield District General Hospital, saw 50% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 101st of 117 trusts. 46% 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.
Congleton grades C+ for health
Healthier than 44% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: preventable deaths and deaths under 75 (better than 30% and 31% of UK towns). What lifts it: emergency admissions (62%) and child obesity (50%). Among the 261 UK towns of 21,000 to 41,000 people, Congleton’s Health Grade is the 89th 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.
East Cheshire 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: East Cheshire NHS Trust runs the A&E at Macclesfield District General Hospital, the nearest to Congleton (7.4 mi).
The share seen within four hours rose from an average of 47% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 51% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are commoner than at 98% of trusts: 4,559 patients in 12 months, 46% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Macclesfield District General Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2026), the hospital overall requires improvement (2026).
North West trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.7 mi | Congleton War Memorial Hospital Congleton · East Cheshire NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
| 7.4 mi | Macclesfield District General Hospital A&E Macclesfield · East Cheshire NHS Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 7.5 mi | Haywood Hospital Stoke-on-trent · Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 11 mi | Royal Stoke University Hospital A&E Stoke On Trent · University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2024 |
| 11 mi | Leighton Hospital A&E Crewe · Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2024 | Requires improvement2020 |
| 12 mi | Knutsford and District Community Hospital Knutsford · East Cheshire NHS Trust | Good2016 | — |
| 14 mi | Victoria Infirmary Northwich · Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 15 mi | Stepping Hill Hospital A&E Stockport · Stockport NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2024 | Good2022 |
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 across Congleton runs from 77.0 to 81.9
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Congleton’s 4 middle-layer neighbourhoods (about 8,000 people each). Circles are sized by residents and show men’s life expectancy.
Congleton Town has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (117 per 100 expected), against 71 in Hightown, Mossley & Timbersbrook.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hightown, Mossley & Timbersbrook | 81.9 | 84.4 | 71 | 72 | 12% | 4.8% |
| Congleton West Heath | 81.0 | 84.1 | 77 | 82 | 16% | 9.6% |
| Buglawton | 78.1 | 84.0 | 113 | 92 | 21% | 31% |
| Congleton Town | 77.0 | 82.7 | 117 | 88 | 26% | 21% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Congleton Town’s men’s life expectancy is 77.0 with a 95% range of 74.7 to 79.3. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Congleton; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
Men’s life expectancy in Congleton is 0.7 years below 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.
17% of Congleton’s residents are income-deprived, about the middle for English towns. For that level, the line predicts 80.3 years for men; Congleton’s is 79.6. For women it predicts 84.0, and Congleton’s 83.9 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 Congleton
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.
76% of patients rate Congleton’s 3 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 132nd of 218 English towns of 21,000 to 41,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawton House Surgery CW12 1QG · 10,513 adult patients | 81% good · range 67%–90% | 40% | 76% | Good2024 |
| Dr C J Studds and Partners CW12 1DY · 7,095 adult patients | 75% good · range 59%–87% | 56% | 74% | Good2024 |
| Readesmoor Medical Group Practice CW12 1JP · 12,201 adult patients | 72% good · range 50%–87% | 54% | 82% | Good2016 |
Lawton House Surgery has the town’s highest rating (81%). 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 Congleton when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
81% of adults in the Cheshire and Merseyside 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 Congleton).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Cheshire and Merseyside patients who did, 74% 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.
82% of residents say their health is good or very good
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 87 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Congleton | Cheshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 82% | 82% |
| Fair health | 13% | 13% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.1% | 5.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 7.4% | 7.9% | 7.4% |
Cheshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Congleton’s Health Grade is 89th of 261 UK towns of 21,000 to 41,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Congleton, and others in Cheshire. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | 30,964 | 83.0 / 86.8 | 58 | A+ |
| 2 | Great Bookham and Fetcham Surrey | 21,655 | 83.4 / 87.3 | 58 | A+ |
| 3 | Fleet Hampshire | 37,800 | 83.3 / 85.7 | 58 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 6 | Wilmslow Cheshire | 25,716 | 83.0 / 86.3 | 67 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 87 | Waterlooville Hampshire | 34,766 | 80.5 / 83.9 | 84 | B− |
| 88 | Bingley West Yorkshire | 21,334 | 79.5 / 84.0 | 90 | C+ |
| 89 | Congleton Cheshire | 30,001 | 79.6 / 83.9 | 93 | C+ |
| 90 | Lichfield Staffordshire | 32,586 | 80.4 / 84.7 | 93 | C+ |
| 91 | Letchworth Hertfordshire | 33,993 | 80.6 / 84.3 | 88 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 207 | Winsford Cheshire | 32,522 | 77.8 / 81.9 | 126 | D |
| … | |||||
| 261 | Clydebank West Dunbartonshire | 26,220 | 72.3 / 78.5 | — | 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 Congleton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congleton | 30,001 | 79.6 / 83.9 | 7.4 mi | C+ |
| Biddulph | 17,490 | 79.5 / 81.9 | 7.9 mi | C |
| Scholar Green | 2,095 | 81.5 / 84.4 | 7.4 mi | B |
| Biddulph Moor | 1,286 | 81.0 / 85.6 | 8.6 mi | B+ |
| Harriseahead, Mow Cop and Newchapel | 3,637 | 81.5 / 84.3 | 6.7 mi | B− |
| Rode Heath | 1,901 | 81.5 / 84.4 | 7.7 mi | B |
| Kidsgrove | 15,598 | 79.1 / 81.7 | 5.9 mi | C− |
| Alsager | 15,504 | 82.2 / 85.1 | 7.1 mi | B |
Alsager, 6.2 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 82.2, 2.6 years longer than Congleton’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 East Cheshire NHS 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 Congleton.
- 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 Congleton
How healthy is Congleton?
Congleton earns a C+ for health, healthier than 44% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 89th of 261 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 79.6 for men and 83.9 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 93 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at Macclesfield District General Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, East Cheshire NHS 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 49%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Congleton?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 81% of adults in the Cheshire and Merseyside 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 Congleton do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, Lawton House Surgery (81% good overall), Dr C J Studds and Partners (75% good overall) and Readesmoor Medical Group Practice (72% good overall). Across all 3 Congleton practices, 76% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Congleton?
79.6 years for men and 83.9 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 66.7 of those years and women 68.6 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.