Photo: John Norris · CC BY-SA 2.0How long people live in Poole: 80.4 for men and 83.8 for women
England as a whole stood at 79.1 and 83.0 over 2019 to 2023. Inside the city, men’s life expectancy runs from 77.8 in Poole Town to 82.9 in Broadstone, 3 miles apart. Poole grades C+ for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #25 of 30 in Dorset.
What stands out about health in Poole
A 5-year gap from one part of Poole to another
Men in Broadstone can expect to live to 82.9, longer than the English average of 79.1. In Poole Town, 3 miles away, the figure is 77.8, and Poole Town records 115 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected for its ages. For women the range is 80.4 in Canford Heath East to 86.2 in Oakdale West. Neighbourhoods ↓
NHS dentists are harder to get than in most of England
Of adults in the Dorset area who tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the last two years, 75% succeeded, 5th lowest of England’s 36 health areas; across England it was 82%. Dentists ↓
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.
Poole grades C+ for health
Healthier than 41% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: emergency admissions and deaths under 75 (better than 12% and 38% of UK towns). What lifts it: child obesity (54%) and men’s life expectancy (49%). Among the 47 UK towns of 99,000 to 190,000 people, Poole’s Health Grade is the 8th 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 Poole runs from 77.8 to 82.9
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Poole’s 16 middle-layer neighbourhoods (about 8,000 people each). Circles are sized by residents and show men’s life expectancy.
The gap follows deprivation closely: Rossmore, where 29% of residents are income-deprived, has men’s life expectancy of 79.8. Poole Town has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (115 per 100 expected), against 54 in Broadstone.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadstone | 82.9 | 85.8 | 54 | 85 | 8.9% | 5.4% |
| Parkstone | 82.9 | 85.7 | 64 | 94 | 10% | 9.5% |
| Branksome West | 82.4 | 82.3 | 107 | 118 | 23% | 19% |
| Canford Heath West | 81.6 | 85.3 | 91 | 114 | 21% | 20% |
| Branksome East | 81.2 | 83.2 | 91 | 105 | 17% | 19% |
| Branksome Park, Canford Cliffs & Sandbanks | 81.1 | 83.7 | 88 | 87 | 18% | 6.4% |
| Oakdale West | 81.0 | 86.2 | 64 | 107 | 17% | 14% |
| Penn Hill | 80.7 | 85.2 | 72 | 95 | 7.3% | 13% |
| Creekmoor | 80.6 | 83.2 | 79 | 113 | 18% | 20% |
| Hamworthy East | 80.0 | 82.7 | 89 | 121 | 19% | 23% |
| Canford Heath East | 79.9 | 80.4 | 92 | 119 | 24% | 18% |
| Rossmore | 79.8 | 83.0 | 102 | 129 | 26% | 29% |
| Oakdale East | 78.9 | 82.4 | 101 | 115 | 16% | 20% |
| Newtown | 78.3 | 83.4 | 107 | 141 | 22% | 27% |
| Hamworthy West | 78.0 | 84.6 | 99 | 132 | 26% | 28% |
| Poole Town | 77.8 | 82.9 | 115 | 121 | 23% | 28% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Poole Town’s men’s life expectancy is 77.8 with a 95% range of 76.3 to 79.3. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Poole; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
75% of adults in the Dorset 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 Poole).
Dorset has the 5th lowest of England’s 36 health areas; across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Dorset patients who did, 66% 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.
Men’s life expectancy in Poole is 0.6 years above 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 Poole’s residents are income-deprived, about the middle for English towns. For that level, the line predicts 79.8 years for men; Poole’s is 80.4. For women it predicts 83.6, and Poole’s 83.8 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 Poole
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.
University Hospitals Dorset saw 60% 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: University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Poole Hospital, the nearest to Poole (1 mi).
The share seen within four hours has held near 62% over 18 months. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 59% of trusts: 5,038 patients in 12 months, 9.9% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Poole Hospital: urgent and emergency services good (2016).
South West trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mi | Poole Hospital A&E Poole · University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | Good2016 |
| 5 mi | Victoria Hospital, Wimborne Wimborne · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 6.2 mi | The Royal Bournemouth Hospital A&E Bournemouth · University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Good2018 |
| 6.2 mi | Royal Bournemouth Hospital Bournemouth · Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 6.2 mi | University Hospitals Dorset Bournemouth · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 7.5 mi | Christchurch Hospital Christchurch · University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | Good2016 | — |
| 8.9 mi | Swanage Community Hospital Swanage · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 18 mi | Lymington New Forest Hospital Lymington · Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation 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.
78% of patients rate Poole’s 11 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 16th of 44 English towns of 99,000 to 190,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Hadleigh Practice BH18 8EE · 17,265 adult patients | 94% good · range 78%–98% | 79% | 71% | Good2016 |
| Dr Newmans Surgery - The Newman Practice BH15 2PG · 4,645 adult patients | 91% good · range 87%–93% | 79% | 65% | Good2020 |
| The Harvey Practice BH18 8EE · 10,943 adult patients | 90% good · range 75%–97% | 90% | 76% | Good2016 |
| Canford Heath Group Practice BH17 8UE · 9,925 adult patients | 90% good · range 80%–95% | 91% | 68% | Good2019 |
| The Birchwood Practice BH17 7XW · 8,486 adult patients | 89% good · range 82%–93% | 82% | 63% | Good2016 |
| Evergreen Oak Surgery BH14 0HU · 6,286 adult patients | 84% good · range 79%–88% | 73% | 72% | Good2017 |
| Poole Town Surgery BH15 2PG · 4,373 adult patients | 83% good · range 78%–87% | 57% | 68% | Good2020 |
| The Rosemary Medical Centre BH12 3HF · 7,619 adult patients | 82% good · range 73%–89% | 48% | 60% | Good2016 |
| The Adam Practice BH15 4JQ · 32,182 adult patients | 71% good · range 32%–93% | 33% | 46% | Outstanding2019 |
| Shore Medical BH14 0DJ · 48,507 adult patients | 70% good · range 37%–91% | 50% | 74% | Good2017 |
| The Village Surgery BH12 5BF · 7,402 adult patients | 61% good · range 49%–73% | 50% | 47% | Good2026 |
The Hadleigh Practice has the city’s highest rating (94%). Shore Medical is by far the largest, with 48,507 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 Poole when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
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 | Poole | Dorset | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Fair health | 13% | 14% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.1% | 5.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 18% | 19% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 7.6% | 7.8% | 7.4% |
Dorset and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Poole’s Health Grade is 8th of 47 UK towns of 99,000 to 190,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Poole, and others in Dorset. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kensington and Chelsea London | 143,348 | 81.5 / 86.2 | 72 | B+ |
| 2 | Kingston upon Thames London | 166,333 | 81.1 / 85.3 | 77 | B+ |
| 3 | Cambridge Cambridgeshire | 152,742 | 81.1 / 85.4 | 79 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 6 | Cheltenham Gloucestershire | 115,941 | 79.4 / 83.6 | 96 | B− |
| 7 | Oxford Oxfordshire | 170,799 | 80.1 / 84.0 | 90 | C+ |
| 8 | Poole Dorset | 141,009 | 80.4 / 83.8 | 89 | C+ |
| 9 | Hammersmith and Fulham London | 182,187 | 78.5 / 83.9 | 104 | C+ |
| 10 | Exeter Devon | 126,181 | 78.9 / 84.3 | 100 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 47 | Oldham Greater Manchester | 110,722 | 74.0 / 78.2 | 166 | 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 Poole
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poole | 141,009 | 80.4 / 83.8 | 1 mi | C+ |
| Bearwood | 4,134 | 78.1 / 81.3 | 3.6 mi | C |
| Upton | 8,401 | 79.7 / 84.7 | 2.6 mi | C+ |
| Merley | 5,489 | 83.8 / 84.4 | 4.2 mi | A |
| Corfe Mullen | 10,036 | 82.0 / 86.1 | 3.9 mi | A |
| Bournemouth | 196,453 | 78.5 / 83.1 | 1.9 mi | C− |
| Wimborne Minster | 16,629 | 81.4 / 86.7 | 5.7 mi | A− |
| West Parley | 3,665 | 81.8 / 86.0 | 3.9 mi | A |
Merley, 3.4 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 83.8, 3.4 years longer than Poole’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 University Hospitals Dorset 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 Poole.
- 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 Poole
How healthy is Poole?
Poole earns a C+ for health, healthier than 41% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 8th of 47 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 80.4 for men and 83.8 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 89 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
Which parts of Poole have the highest life expectancy?
For men, Broadstone (82.9), Parkstone (82.9) and Branksome West (82.4); the shortest is Poole Town (77.8). For women, Oakdale West is highest (86.2) and Canford Heath East lowest (80.4). OHID figures for 2019 to 2023, by neighbourhood of about 8,000 people.
How long are A&E waits at Poole Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 60% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 65%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Poole?
It is harder than in most of England. In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 75% of adults in the Dorset 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 Poole do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, The Hadleigh Practice (94% good overall), Dr Newmans Surgery - The Newman Practice (91% good overall) and The Harvey Practice (90% good overall). Across all 11 Poole practices, 78% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Poole?
80.4 years for men and 83.8 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 66.7 of those years and women 67.9 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.