Photo: Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0Life expectancy in Wool runs ahead of the figure across England: 80.8 for men and 84.5 for women
England as a whole stood at 79.1 and 83.0 over 2019 to 2023. Wool 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 Wool
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 ↓
Patients rate Wool’s GP practices above England’s
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 81% of patients at Wool’s one practice called their overall experience good, against 77% across England, and 54% found it easy to get through by phone (57% in England). That is ahead of 58% 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.
Wool grades C+ for health
Healthier than 44% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: Census bad health and disability (better than 28% and 28% of UK towns). What lifts it: women’s life expectancy (63%) and men’s life expectancy (60%).
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.
Wool is a military garrison town: most residents serve or work for the armed forces and live in service housing, so it keeps its grades but isn’t ranked against other towns.
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 Wool).
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.
81% of patients rate Wool’s GP practice good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 144th of 285 English towns of 4,000 to 7,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Wellbridge Practice BH20 6DR · 4,979 adult patients | 81% good · range 77%–85% | 54% | 60% | Good2017 |
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 Wool 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 Wool is 0.8 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.
18% of Wool’s residents are income-deprived, about the middle for English towns. For that level, the line predicts 80.0 years for men; Wool’s is 80.8. For women it predicts 83.8, and Wool’s 84.5 is 0.8 years above.
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 Wool
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.
Dorset County Hospital 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: Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Dorset County Hospital, the nearest to Wool (9.8 mi).
The share seen within four hours slipped from an average of 68% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 57% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 77% of trusts: 826 patients in 12 months, 3.5% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Dorset County Hospital: urgent and emergency services good (2026), the hospital overall good (2026).
South West trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.8 mi | Dorset County Hospital A&E Dorchester · Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Good2026 |
| 11 mi | Weymouth Community Hospital Weymouth · Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 11 mi | Weymouth Community Hospital Weymouth · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 11 mi | Poole Hospital A&E Poole · University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | Good2016 |
| 12 mi | Westhaven Hospital Weymouth · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 12 mi | Victoria Hospital, Wimborne Wimborne · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 13 mi | Swanage Community Hospital Swanage · Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 18 mi | The Royal Bournemouth Hospital A&E Bournemouth · University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Good2018 |
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.
82% of residents say their health is good or very good
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Wool’s residents are younger than Dorset’s (17% are 65 or over, against 25%), which accounts for much of the difference. Adjusted for age, 105 report bad health for every 100 expected, close to the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Wool | Dorset | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Fair health | 12% | 14% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.2% | 5.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 19% | 19% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 7.3% | 7.8% | 7.4% |
Dorset and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Health in the places around Wool
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wool | 5,044 | 80.8 / 84.5 | 9.8 mi | C+ |
| Bere Regis | 1,320 | 82.8 / 86.3 | 10 mi | A− |
| Crossways | 2,494 | 82.1 / 84.8 | 5.3 mi | B+ |
| Wareham | 5,876 | 82.0 / 85.5 | 6.6 mi | B |
| Sandford | 2,004 | 82.0 / 85.5 | 5.6 mi | B+ |
| Milborne St Andrew | 1,090 | 82.1 / 87.1 | 8.5 mi | A |
| Puddletown | 1,193 | 81.6 / 85.4 | 5.1 mi | B+ |
| Lytchett Matravers | 3,455 | 82.8 / 86.3 | 5.2 mi | A− |
Bere Regis, 4 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 82.8, 2.0 years longer than Wool’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 Dorset County Hospital 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 Wool.
- 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 Wool
How healthy is Wool?
Wool earns a C+ for health, healthier than 44% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age. Life expectancy is 80.8 for men and 84.5 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 87 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at Dorset County Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Dorset County Hospital 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 61%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Wool?
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.
How many GP practices are there in Wool?
Wool has 1 GP practice with surgeries inside the town; 1 of the 1 rated by the Care Quality Commission are good or outstanding.
What is the life expectancy in Wool?
80.8 years for men and 84.5 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 66.8 of those years and women 68.7 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.