Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Across Maidstone, life expectancy spans 11 years from one area to another
Inside the city, men’s life expectancy runs from 74.1 in Parkwood & Senacre to 84.7 in Allington, 3.5 miles apart. Life expectancy is 79.0 for men and 82.4 for women. England as a whole stood at 79.1 and 83.0 over 2019 to 2023. Maidstone grades C for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #55 of 87 in Kent.
What stands out about health in Maidstone
An 11-year gap from one part of Maidstone to another
Men in Allington can expect to live to 84.7, longer than the English average of 79.1. In Parkwood & Senacre, 3.5 miles away, the figure is 74.1, and Parkwood & Senacre records 168 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected for its ages. For women the range is 78.7 in Parkwood & Senacre to 86.0 in Loose Valley & Boughton Monchelsea. Neighbourhoods ↓
Patients rate Maidstone’s GP practices below England’s
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 70% of patients at Maidstone’s 8 practices called their overall experience good, against 77% across England, and 50% found it easy to get through by phone (57% in England). That is behind 83% of English towns. GP practices ↓
More A&E patients are seen within four hours than across England
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which runs the A&E at Maidstone Hospital, saw 76% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 5th of 117 trusts. 15% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
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.
Maidstone grades C for health
Healthier than 30% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
Behind the typical UK town on every measure. Even its strongest, disability and Census bad health, are in the bottom 50% of UK towns; emergency admissions and preventable deaths are furthest behind. Among the 66 UK towns of 77,000 to 148,000 people, Maidstone’s Health Grade is the 21st 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 Maidstone runs from 74.1 to 84.7
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Maidstone’s 11 middle-layer neighbourhoods (about 8,000 people each). Circles are sized by residents and show men’s life expectancy.
The gap follows deprivation closely: Parkwood & Senacre, where 41% of residents are income-deprived, has men’s life expectancy of 74.1. Parkwood & Senacre has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (168 per 100 expected), against 64 in Allington.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allington | 84.7 | 84.4 | 64 | 89 | 14% | 7.3% |
| Kingswood, Langley Heath & Chart Sutton | 82.4 | 84.3 | 79 | 100 | 24% | 20% |
| Grove Green | 82.1 | 83.9 | 57 | 81 | 15% | 7.9% |
| Loose Valley & Boughton Monchelsea | 82.0 | 86.0 | 66 | 90 | 19% | 12% |
| Penenden Heath | 81.4 | 83.6 | 75 | 95 | 18% | 12% |
| Barming | 78.8 | 82.6 | 94 | 115 | 20% | 20% |
| Mote Park | 77.8 | 82.2 | 110 | 116 | 22% | 24% |
| Ringlestone & Central Maidstone | 77.5 | 83.1 | 127 | 129 | 26% | 28% |
| Maidstone West | 76.4 | 79.3 | 121 | 116 | 19% | 21% |
| Tovil | 76.1 | 80.3 | 123 | 123 | 23% | 26% |
| Parkwood & Senacre | 74.1 | 78.7 | 168 | 141 | 23% | 41% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Parkwood & Senacre’s men’s life expectancy is 74.1 with a 95% range of 72.5 to 75.7. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Maidstone; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells saw 76% 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: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust runs the A&E at Maidstone Hospital, the nearest to Maidstone (1.8 mi).
The share seen within four hours slipped from an average of 80% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 75% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are commoner than at 60% of trusts: 4,073 patients in 12 months, 15% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Maidstone Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2018), the hospital overall requires improvement (2024).
South East trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.8 mi | Maidstone Hospital A&E Maidstone · Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Requires improvement2024 | Requires improvement2018 |
| 7.8 mi | Medway Maritime Hospital A&E Gillingham · Medway NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2025 |
| 12 mi | The Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury A&E Tunbridge Wells · Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2018 |
| 12 mi | Tonbridge Cottage Hospital Tonbridge · Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 14 mi | Sevenoaks Hospital and Urgent Treatment Centre Sevenoaks · Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
| 15 mi | Sheppey Community Hospital Sheerness · Medway NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 16 mi | Darent Valley Hospital A&E Dartford · Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust | Good2022 | Good2022 |
| 17 mi | Fordcombe Hospital Tunbridge Wells · Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Good2016 | — |
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.
70% of patients rate Maidstone’s 8 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 50th of 62 English towns of 77,000 to 148,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shepway Medical Centre ME15 7LN · 12,122 adult patients | 90% good · range 74%–97% | 88% | 85% | Good2023 |
| Brewer Street Surgery ME14 1RU · 7,595 adult patients | 86% good · range 79%–91% | 78% | 69% | Good2026 |
| Blackthorn Medical Centre ME16 9AN · 6,711 adult patients | 83% good · range 76%–88% | 60% | 57% | Good2017 |
| Bower Mount Medical Practice ME16 8AX · 8,944 adult patients | 77% good · range 67%–85% | 42% | 77% | Good2017 |
| Wallis Avenue ME15 9JJ · 4,946 adult patients | 72% good · range 65%–79% | 47% | 58% | Good2016 |
| The Vine Medical Centre ME16 8RL · 10,597 adult patients | 62% good · range 49%–73% | 53% | 51% | Good2019 |
| The Mote Medical Practice ME15 9FL · 13,184 adult patients | 61% good · range 42%–78% | 41% | 48% | Good2022 |
| The College Practice ME15 6SB · 26,221 adult patients | 59% good · range 20%–90% | 27% | 47% | Good2022 |
Shepway Medical Centre has the city’s highest rating (90%). The College Practice is by far the largest, with 26,221 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 Maidstone 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 Maidstone 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.
21% of Maidstone’s residents are income-deprived, more than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 79.4 years for men; Maidstone’s is 79.0. For women it predicts 83.2, and Maidstone’s 82.4 is 0.8 years below.
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 Maidstone
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.
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 Maidstone).
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.
84% of residents say their health is good or very good
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 89 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Maidstone | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 82% | 82% |
| Fair health | 12% | 13% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.4% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 6.5% | 7.4% | 7.4% |
Kent and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Maidstone’s Health Grade is 21st of 66 UK towns of 77,000 to 148,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Maidstone, and others in Kent. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 81.4 / 85.5 | 78 | B+ |
| 2 | Kensington and Chelsea London | 143,348 | 81.5 / 86.2 | 72 | B+ |
| 3 | Bath Somerset | 94,080 | 80.2 / 84.5 | 84 | B |
| … | |||||
| 19 | Chester Cheshire | 92,756 | 77.9 / 83.3 | 111 | C |
| 20 | Colchester Essex | 130,259 | 78.3 / 82.6 | 103 | C |
| 21 | Maidstone Kent | 109,503 | 79.0 / 82.4 | 103 | C |
| 22 | York North Yorkshire | 141,696 | 78.4 / 83.1 | 107 | C |
| 23 | Stevenage Hertfordshire | 94,462 | 79.6 / 82.5 | 100 | C |
| … | |||||
| 26 | Gillingham Kent | 108,485 | 78.4 / 82.7 | 112 | C− |
| 27 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 78.7 / 82.1 | 105 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 66 | 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 Maidstone
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maidstone | 109,503 | 79.0 / 82.4 | 1.8 mi | C |
| Bearsted | 8,349 | 81.5 / 84.7 | 3.8 mi | A |
| Coxheath | 8,453 | 81.1 / 84.6 | 3 mi | B |
| Eccles | 1,706 | 77.9 / 82.3 | 3.1 mi | C+ |
| Larkfield | 26,147 | 80.4 / 84.8 | 2.5 mi | B− |
| Wateringbury | 2,248 | 83.0 / 87.8 | 3.1 mi | A |
| Burham | 1,293 | 77.9 / 82.3 | 3.8 mi | C+ |
| Sutton Valence | 1,457 | 81.6 / 84.0 | 6.2 mi | B |
Wateringbury, 4.6 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 83.0, 4.0 years longer than Maidstone’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 Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS 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 Maidstone.
- 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 Maidstone
How healthy is Maidstone?
Maidstone earns a C for health, healthier than 30% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 21st of 66 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 79.0 for men and 82.4 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 103 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
Which parts of Maidstone have the highest life expectancy?
For men, Allington (84.7), Kingswood, Langley Heath & Chart Sutton (82.4) and Grove Green (82.1); the shortest is Parkwood & Senacre (74.1). For women, Loose Valley & Boughton Monchelsea is highest (86.0) and Parkwood & Senacre lowest (78.7). OHID figures for 2019 to 2023, by neighbourhood of about 8,000 people.
How long are A&E waits at Maidstone Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 76% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 73%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Maidstone?
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.
Which GP practice in Maidstone do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, Shepway Medical Centre (90% good overall), Brewer Street Surgery (86% good overall) and Blackthorn Medical Centre (83% good overall). Across all 8 Maidstone practices, 70% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Maidstone?
79.0 years for men and 82.4 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 65.5 of those years and women 66.3 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.