Photo: Tom Tunney · Public domainLives in Thornley are shorter than across England: 74.7 for men and 81.3 for women
Across England the figures for 2019 to 2023 are 79.1 and 83.0. Thornley grades D− for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #42 of 52 in County Durham.
What stands out about health in Thornley
More of Thornley’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 96% of UK towns. Health Grade ↓
Men live shorter lives than Thornley’s level of deprivation would suggest
32% of Thornley’s residents are income-deprived. Across England’s towns that predicts men’s life expectancy of 76.9; Thornley’s is 74.7. For its circumstances ↓
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.
Thornley grades D− for health
Healthier than 3% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
Behind the typical UK town on every measure. Even its strongest, women’s life expectancy and disability, are in the bottom 20% of UK towns; men’s years in good health and preventable deaths 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 in Thornley is 2.2 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.
32% of Thornley’s residents are income-deprived, more than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 76.9 years for men; Thornley’s is 74.7. For women it predicts 81.1, and Thornley’s 81.3 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 Thornley
The nearest A&E, GP practices, and where to go when it’s urgent but not an emergency. In an emergency, call 999.
County Durham and Darlington saw 58% 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: County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at University Hospital North Durham, the nearest to Thornley (6.6 mi).
The share seen within four hours slipped from an average of 62% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 58% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 90% of trusts: 349 patients in 12 months, 0.7% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for University Hospital North Durham: urgent and emergency services good (2025), the hospital overall good (2026).
North East and Yorkshire trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.3 mi | Peterlee Community Hospital Peterlee · County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 6.6 mi | University Hospital North Durham A&E Durham · County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Good2025 |
| 9.2 mi | University Hospital of Hartlepool Hartlepool · North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2022 | — |
| 11 mi | Sunderland Royal Hospital A&E Sunderland · South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT | Requires improvement2023 | Requires improvement2020 |
| 11 mi | Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital Sunderland · South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT | Good2020 | — |
| 12 mi | University Hospital of North Tees A&E Stockton On Tees · North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2022 | Good2018 |
| 14 mi | Queen Elizabeth Hospital A&E Gateshead · Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust | Good2023 | Good2016 |
| 15 mi | South Tyneside District Hospital A&E South Shields · South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT | Requires improvement2023 | Requires improvement2020 |
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.
No GP practice in Thornley itself
The nearest practices.
| Practice | Distance | CQC rating |
|---|---|---|
| Bevan Medical Group Surgery Durham DH6 2LQ | 2.3 mi | Good2026 |
| Southdene Medical Centre Durham DH6 2LT | 2.4 mi | Requires improvement2022 |
| Wingate Medical Practice Wingate TS28 5PZ | 3.1 mi | Good2016 |
| Belmont & Sherburn Medical Group Durham DH6 1JE | 3.3 mi | Not rated |
| Belmont & Sherburn Medical Group Durham DH6 1JE | 3.3 mi | Good2018 |
| Coxhoe Medical Practice Durham DH6 4DH | 3.5 mi | Good2022 |
GP practices registered with the Care Quality Commission, placed in the town by their postcode. A practice counts as in Thornley 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.
77% of adults in the North East and North Cumbria 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 Thornley).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of North East and North Cumbria patients who did, 71% 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 Thornley call their health good than across County Durham
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 170 report bad health for every 100 expected, more than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Thornley | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 77% | 82% |
| Fair health | 17% | 15% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.6% | 7.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 26% | 22% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 13% | 10% | 7.4% |
County Durham and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
How Thornley compares with UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Thornley, and others in County Durham. 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+ |
| … | |||||
| 266 | Urpeth County Durham | 2,048 | 80.7 / 84.8 | 69 | B |
| … | |||||
| 318 | Hurworth-on-Tees County Durham | 2,667 | 79.7 / 82.9 | 87 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 338 | Wolsingham County Durham | 2,428 | 82.3 / 85.3 | 76 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 568 | Harthill North Lanarkshire | 2,613 | 77.0 / 79.8 | — | D− |
| 569 | Brierley South Yorkshire | 2,714 | 74.6 / 78.7 | 159 | D− |
| 570 | Thornley County Durham | 2,543 | 74.7 / 81.3 | 142 | D− |
| 571 | Resolven West Glamorgan | 2,162 | — | — | D− |
| 572 | Coundon and Leeholme County Durham | 2,522 | 75.2 / 78.6 | 140 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 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 Thornley
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornley | 2,543 | 74.7 / 81.3 | 6.6 mi | D− |
| Wheatley Hill | 3,148 | 74.7 / 81.3 | 7.7 mi | D− |
| Shotton Colliery | 4,943 | 74.6 / 79.8 | 8.4 mi | D− |
| Haswell | 1,185 | 74.6 / 79.8 | 7 mi | D− |
| Kelloe | 1,434 | 78.7 / 82.0 | 6.8 mi | D |
| Trimdon Colliery | 1,788 | 75.8 / 81.1 | 8.9 mi | D− |
| Trimdon Grange | 1,233 | 78.1 / 80.8 | 8.5 mi | D |
| Wingate | 5,033 | 78.2 / 83.0 | 9.5 mi | D |
Kelloe, 2.5 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 78.7, 4.0 years longer than Thornley’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 County Durham and Darlington 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 Thornley
How healthy is Thornley?
Thornley earns a D− for health, healthier than 3% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age. Life expectancy is 74.7 for men and 81.3 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 142 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at University Hospital North Durham?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 58% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 59%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Thornley?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 77% of adults in the North East and North Cumbria 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 Thornley?
There’s no GP surgery inside Thornley itself; the nearest is about 2.3 mi away.
What is the life expectancy in Thornley?
74.7 years for men and 81.3 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 55.8 of those years and women 59.4 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.