Photo: Christine Johnstone · CC BY-SA 2.09 years separate the longest- and shortest-lived parts of Runcorn
Inside the town, men’s life expectancy runs from 72.8 in Halton Lea & Brookvale to 82.0 in Beechwood & Heath, 1.1 miles apart. Life expectancy is 76.4 for men and 80.9 for women. Across England the figures for 2019 to 2023 are 79.1 and 83.0. Runcorn grades D 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 Runcorn
A 9-year gap from one part of Runcorn to another
Men in Beechwood & Heath can expect to live to 82.0, longer than the English average of 79.1. In Halton Lea & Brookvale, 1.1 miles away, the figure is 72.8, and Grange, Halton Brook & Hallwood Park records 180 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected for its ages. For women the range is 78.4 in Grange, Halton Brook & Hallwood Park to 85.4 in Sandymoor, Daresbury & Preston Brook. Neighbourhoods ↓
A&E waits run longer than England’s
North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at Warrington Hospital, saw 52% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 92nd of 117 trusts. 48% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
More of Runcorn’s children are obese
28% of Year 6 children (aged 10 to 11) were measured as obese over the last three school years, against 22.3% across England; more than in 95% of UK towns. Health Grade ↓
Patients rate Runcorn’s GP practices below England’s
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 72% of patients at Runcorn’s 6 practices called their overall experience good, against 77% across England, and 51% found it easy to get through by phone (57% in England). That is behind 79% of English towns. GP practices ↓
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.
Runcorn grades D for health
Healthier than 6% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
Behind the typical UK town on every measure. Even its strongest, women’s life expectancy and men’s life expectancy, are in the bottom 15% of UK towns; emergency admissions and child obesity are furthest behind.
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 Runcorn runs from 72.8 to 82.0
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Runcorn’s 8 middle-layer neighbourhoods (about 8,000 people each). Circles are sized by residents and show men’s life expectancy.
The gap follows deprivation closely: Halton Castlefield, where 56% of residents are income-deprived, has men’s life expectancy of 74.8. Grange, Halton Brook & Hallwood Park has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (180 per 100 expected), against 74 in Beechwood & Heath.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beechwood & Heath | 82.0 | 84.4 | 74 | 98 | 22% | 7% |
| Sandymoor, Daresbury & Preston Brook | 81.4 | 85.4 | 65 | 102 | 19% | 9.2% |
| Runcorn Halton Road | 77.5 | 81.5 | 110 | 120 | 31% | 28% |
| Runcorn Town & Westfield | 75.5 | 81.5 | 140 | 127 | 25% | 27% |
| Norton | 75.1 | 78.6 | 128 | 161 | 34% | 41% |
| Halton Castlefield | 74.8 | 79.1 | 166 | 157 | 28% | 56% |
| Grange, Halton Brook & Hallwood Park | 74.2 | 78.4 | 180 | 156 | 33% | 53% |
| Halton Lea & Brookvale | 72.8 | 79.2 | 161 | 172 | 29% | 43% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Halton Lea & Brookvale’s men’s life expectancy is 72.8 with a 95% range of 70.8 to 74.8. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Runcorn; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
North Cheshire and Mersey saw 52% 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: North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Warrington Hospital, the nearest to Runcorn (5.6 mi).
The share seen within four hours rose from an average of 49% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 55% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are commoner than at 99% of trusts: 10,500 patients in 12 months, 48% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Warrington Hospital: urgent and emergency services good (2017), the hospital overall good (2024).
North West trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.7 mi | Halton Hospital Runcorn · North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust | Good2019 | — |
| 5.6 mi | Warrington Hospital A&E Warrington · North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust | Good2024 | Good2017 |
| 7 mi | Whiston Hospital A&E Prescot · Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Not rated | Requires improvement2025 |
| 7.4 mi | St Helens Hospital St Helens · Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Good2023 | — |
| 8.3 mi | Newton Community Hospital Newton Le Willows · Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
| 8.9 mi | Victoria Infirmary Northwich · Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 9.8 mi | Broadgreen Hospital Liverpool · Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 9.8 mi | Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital Liverpool · Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Outstanding2019 | — |
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.
72% of patients rate Runcorn’s 6 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 80th of 114 English towns of 43,000 to 83,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlefields Health Centre WA7 2ST · 11,875 adult patients | 83% good · range 58%–94% | 69% | 73% | Good2016 |
| Brookvale Practice WA7 2UT · 7,105 adult patients | 79% good · range 67%–87% | 60% | 68% | Good2024 |
| Grove House Practice WA7 1AB · 11,931 adult patients | 72% good · range 55%–85% | 45% | 59% | Requires improvement2024 |
| Weaver Vale Practice WA7 2UT · 7,250 adult patients | 67% good · range 53%–79% | 48% | 71% | Good2016 |
| Tower House Practice WA7 1AB · 10,736 adult patients | 66% good · range 47%–81% | 45% | 58% | Good2026 |
| Murdishaw Health Centre WA7 6ES · 6,390 adult patients | 59% good · range 47%–71% | 32% | 62% | Good2016 |
Castlefields Health Centre has the town’s highest rating (83%). 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 Runcorn when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
Men’s life expectancy in Runcorn 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.
34% of Runcorn’s residents are income-deprived, more than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 76.5 years for men; Runcorn’s is 76.4. For women it predicts 80.8, and Runcorn’s 80.9 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 Runcorn
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.
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 Runcorn).
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.
Fewer people in Runcorn call their health good than across Cheshire
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 163 report bad health for every 100 expected, more than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Runcorn | Cheshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 82% | 82% |
| Fair health | 15% | 13% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.4% | 5.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 24% | 18% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 12% | 7.9% | 7.4% |
Cheshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
How Runcorn compares with UK towns of 43,000 to 83,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Runcorn, and others in Cheshire. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wokingham Berkshire | 50,320 | 82.7 / 86.1 | 67 | A+ |
| 2 | West Molesey Surrey | 47,144 | 82.5 / 86.3 | 63 | A |
| 3 | St Albans Hertfordshire | 75,544 | 80.7 / 84.6 | 79 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Macclesfield Cheshire | 54,352 | 78.7 / 82.9 | 109 | C |
| … | |||||
| 81 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 77.5 / 82.4 | 120 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 96 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 77.2 / 80.7 | 133 | D |
| … | |||||
| 123 | Kilmarnock East Ayrshire | 47,073 | 75.8 / 79.5 | — | D |
| 124 | Dudley West Midlands | 64,277 | 75.7 / 80.1 | 138 | D |
| 125 | Runcorn Cheshire | 61,641 | 76.4 / 80.9 | 132 | D |
| 126 | Rotherham South Yorkshire | 71,535 | 76.2 / 79.9 | 150 | D |
| 127 | Barnsley South Yorkshire | 71,394 | 74.9 / 80.2 | 145 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 134 | Bootle Merseyside | 53,722 | 74.2 / 78.3 | 173 | 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 Runcorn
Life expectancy for men / women, and the nearest A&E. Tap a town for its health page.
Kingsley, 4.6 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 82.0, 5.6 years longer than Runcorn’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 North Cheshire and Mersey 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 Runcorn.
- 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 Runcorn
How healthy is Runcorn?
Runcorn earns a D for health, healthier than 6% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age. Life expectancy is 76.4 for men and 80.9 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 132 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
Which parts of Runcorn have the highest life expectancy?
For men, Beechwood & Heath (82.0), Sandymoor, Daresbury & Preston Brook (81.4) and Runcorn Halton Road (77.5); the shortest is Halton Lea & Brookvale (72.8). For women, Sandymoor, Daresbury & Preston Brook is highest (85.4) and Grange, Halton Brook & Hallwood Park lowest (78.4). OHID figures for 2019 to 2023, by neighbourhood of about 8,000 people.
How long are A&E waits at Warrington Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 52% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 55%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Runcorn?
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 Runcorn do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, Castlefields Health Centre (83% good overall), Brookvale Practice (79% good overall) and Grove House Practice (72% good overall). Across all 6 Runcorn practices, 72% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Runcorn?
76.4 years for men and 80.9 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 59.7 of those years and women 60.6 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.