Photo: Oast House Archive · CC BY-SA 2.0Life expectancy in Higham runs ahead of the figure across England: 82.6 for men and 84.6 for women
England as a whole stood at 79.1 and 83.0 over 2019 to 2023. Higham grades A− for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #12 of 87 in Kent.
What stands out about health in Higham
More patients are seen within four hours than across England, but 12-hour waits for a bed are commoner
Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at Medway Maritime Hospital, saw 65% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 35th of 117 trusts. 42% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
Men live longer lives than Higham’s level of deprivation would suggest
14% of Higham’s residents are income-deprived. Across England’s towns that predicts men’s life expectancy of 80.8; Higham’s is 82.6. 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.
Higham grades A− for health
Healthier than 77% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
Ahead of the typical UK town on every measure. Even its weakest, emergency admissions and Census bad health, are in the top 50% of UK towns; men’s years in good health and men’s life expectancy lead. Among the 937 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Higham’s Health Grade is the 232nd 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.
Medway saw 65% 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: Medway NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Medway Maritime Hospital, the nearest to Higham (4.4 mi).
The share seen within four hours has held near 66% over 18 months. Long waits for a bed are commoner than at 97% of trusts: 8,740 patients in 12 months, 42% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Medway Maritime Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2025), the hospital overall requires improvement (2025).
South East trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.4 mi | Medway Maritime Hospital A&E Gillingham · Medway NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2025 |
| 7.5 mi | Thurrock Community Hospital Grays · North East London NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 7.6 mi | Orsett Hospital Grays · Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 8.7 mi | Darent Valley Hospital A&E Dartford · Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust | Good2022 | Good2022 |
| 9.8 mi | Basildon University Hospital A&E Basildon · Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust | Inadequate2025 | Inadequate2025 |
| 10 mi | Maidstone Hospital A&E Maidstone · Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Requires improvement2024 | Requires improvement2018 |
| 13 mi | Erith & District Hospital Erith · Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
| 14 mi | Southend University Hospital A&E Westcliff On Sea · Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2025 | 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.
Men’s life expectancy in Higham is 1.8 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.
14% of Higham’s residents are income-deprived, less than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 80.8 years for men; Higham’s is 82.6. For women it predicts 84.4, and Higham’s 84.6 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 Higham
The nearest A&E, GP practices, and where to go when it’s urgent but not an emergency. In an emergency, call 999.
No GP practice in Higham itself
The nearest practices.
| Practice | Distance | CQC rating |
|---|---|---|
| Court View Surgery Rochester ME2 2HA | 1.9 mi | Good2018 |
| Cliffe Woods Surgery Rochester ME3 8HX | 2 mi | Good2022 |
| Apex Medical Practice Rochester ME2 4UW | 2 mi | Good2019 |
| Marlowe Park Medical Centre Rochester ME2 2PW | 2.1 mi | Good2022 |
| The Thorndike Surgery Rochester ME1 2TH | 3.2 mi | Requires improvement2022 |
| Rochester Road Surgery Gravesend DA12 2HU | 3.2 mi | Good2026 |
GP practices registered with the Care Quality Commission, placed in the town by their postcode. A practice counts as in Higham 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.
84% of adults in the Kent and Medway 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 Higham).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Kent and Medway patients who did, 75% 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.
83% of residents say their health is good or very good
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Higham’s residents are older than Kent’s (29% are 65 or over, against 19%), which accounts for much of the difference. Adjusted for age, 75 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Higham | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 82% | 82% |
| Fair health | 12% | 13% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 7.7% | 7.4% | 7.4% |
Kent and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Higham’s Health Grade is 232nd of 937 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Higham, and others in Kent. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marlow Bottom Buckinghamshire | 3,339 | 85.3 / 88.5 | 42 | A+ |
| 2 | Collingham West Yorkshire | 2,362 | 86.0 / 88.4 | 45 | A+ |
| 3 | Pangbourne Berkshire | 3,279 | 86.0 / 87.7 | 51 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 78 | Westerham Kent | 3,390 | 83.1 / 86.8 | 61 | A |
| … | |||||
| 111 | Ightham Kent | 2,037 | 82.1 / 85.4 | 63 | A |
| 112 | Wateringbury Kent | 2,248 | 83.0 / 87.8 | 64 | A |
| … | |||||
| 230 | Lechlade-on-Thames Gloucestershire | 2,208 | 80.9 / 84.9 | 74 | A− |
| 231 | Timsbury Somerset | 2,506 | 81.3 / 84.0 | 76 | A− |
| 232 | Higham Kent | 2,642 | 82.6 / 84.6 | 69 | A− |
| 233 | Eccleshall Staffordshire | 3,229 | 83.8 / 84.2 | 74 | A− |
| 234 | Radford Semele Warwickshire | 2,301 | 81.9 / 83.7 | 84 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 937 | Auchinleck East Ayrshire | 3,682 | 71.7 / 77.0 | — | 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 Higham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higham | 2,642 | 82.6 / 84.6 | 4.4 mi | A− |
| Shorne | 1,038 | 82.6 / 84.6 | 5.1 mi | A− |
| Cliffe Woods | 2,689 | 81.4 / 84.3 | 4.1 mi | B |
| Rochester | 67,279 | 78.6 / 81.7 | 2 mi | C− |
| Cuxton | 3,039 | 81.7 / 83.8 | 3.8 mi | B− |
| Chattenden | 2,417 | 79.3 / 85.1 | 2.8 mi | C+ |
| Gravesend | 58,105 | 77.9 / 82.9 | 5.3 mi | C− |
| Cliffe | 2,531 | 81.4 / 84.3 | 5.8 mi | B− |
Gravesend, 3.5 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 77.9, 4.7 years shorter than Higham’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 Medway 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 Higham
How healthy is Higham?
Higham earns an A− for health, healthier than 77% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 232nd of 937 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 82.6 for men and 84.6 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 69 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at Medway Maritime Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Medway NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 65% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 70%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Higham?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 84% of adults in the Kent and Medway 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 Higham?
There’s no GP surgery inside Higham itself; the nearest is about 1.9 mi away.
What is the life expectancy in Higham?
82.6 years for men and 84.6 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 71.3 of those years and women 71.3 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.