Photo: Len Williams · CC BY-SA 2.0Across Lambeth, life expectancy spans 9 years from one area to another
Inside the borough, men’s life expectancy runs from 73.3 in Stockwell West to 81.8 in Streatham Central, 2.6 miles apart. Life expectancy is 78.2 for men and 83.1 for women. For 2019 to 2023, England’s figures are 79.1 and 83.0. Lambeth grades C for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #24 of 33 in London.
What stands out about health in Lambeth
A 9-year gap from one part of Lambeth to another
Men in Streatham Central can expect to live to 81.8, longer than the English average of 79.1. In Stockwell West, 2.6 miles away, the figure is 73.3, and Clapham Common North records 161 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected for its ages. For women the range is 78.0 in West Norwood South to 86.5 in Streatham Vale. Neighbourhoods ↓
A&E waits run longer than England’s
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at King's College Hospital, saw 56% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 76th of 117 trusts. 21% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
More of Lambeth’s children are obese
26% 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 91% of UK towns. Health Grade ↓
NHS dentists are easier to get than in most of England
Of adults in the South East London area who tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the last two years, 87% succeeded, 3rd highest of 36; 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.
Lambeth grades C for health
Healthier than 30% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: child obesity and deaths under 75 (better than 9% and 22% of UK towns). What lifts it: disability (65%) and emergency admissions (41%). Among the 40 UK towns of 222,000 to 428,000 people, Lambeth’s Health Grade is the 16th 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 Lambeth runs from 73.3 to 81.8
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Lambeth’s 35 middle-layer neighbourhoods (about 8,000 people each). Circles are sized by residents and show men’s life expectancy.
The gap follows deprivation less closely inside Lambeth than across England. Clapham Common North has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (161 per 100 expected), against 85 in Streatham Central.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Streatham Central | 81.8 | 84.7 | 85 | 83 | 23% | 21% |
| West Dulwich | 81.3 | 84.0 | 85 | 76 | 22% | 25% |
| Streatham Vale | 81.1 | 86.5 | 85 | 102 | 21% | 29% |
| Herne Hill East | 80.6 | 81.6 | 99 | 79 | 17% | 20% |
| Leigham Vale & Royal Circus | 80.5 | 84.0 | 88 | 77 | 21% | 23% |
| Streatham Hill | 79.8 | 82.9 | 102 | 85 | 24% | 23% |
| Clapham North | 79.6 | 85.2 | 92 | 89 | 30% | 20% |
| Clapham South | 79.6 | 84.3 | 79 | 85 | 21% | 12% |
| Gipsy Hill | 79.5 | 86.3 | 86 | 84 | 23% | 32% |
| West Norwood East | 79.5 | 83.7 | 75 | 72 | 24% | 24% |
| Kennington West & Vauxhall North | 79.4 | 83.5 | 104 | 100 | 24% | 29% |
| Vauxhall South | 79.3 | 84.0 | 96 | 96 | 30% | 22% |
| Stockwell East | 79.1 | 82.1 | 107 | 96 | 24% | 29% |
| Lambeth North, Waterloo & South Bank | 79.0 | 82.1 | 107 | 91 | 33% | 18% |
| Stockwell South | 78.9 | 83.7 | 94 | 96 | 29% | 27% |
| Stockwell North | 78.8 | 82.5 | 98 | 111 | 32% | 33% |
| Streatham Common | 78.5 | 84.2 | 96 | 95 | 23% | 25% |
| Clapham Park West | 78.4 | 84.2 | 80 | 84 | 21% | 16% |
| Acre Lane | 78.2 | 81.9 | 71 | 76 | 30% | 15% |
| Brixton Hill West | 78.2 | 80.7 | 101 | 90 | 29% | 25% |
| Brixton Central | 77.8 | 83.4 | 98 | 88 | 31% | 30% |
| Brixton Hill East | 77.7 | 85.5 | 95 | 72 | 28% | 19% |
| Oval | 77.5 | 81.9 | 105 | 89 | 28% | 25% |
| Clapham Old Town | 77.3 | 85.6 | 99 | 86 | 26% | 17% |
| West Norwood West & Streatham East | 77.1 | 83.9 | 107 | 78 | 20% | 21% |
| Clapham Park East & Streatham Hill North | 77.1 | 82.7 | 104 | 99 | 29% | 29% |
| Poets' Corner & Brockwell Park | 77.1 | 83.5 | 92 | 83 | 27% | 24% |
| Lambeth Walk & North Kennington | 77.0 | 85.3 | 113 | 123 | 30% | 34% |
| Brixton North | 76.5 | 83.1 | 116 | 107 | 33% | 36% |
| Tulse Hill | 76.1 | 80.4 | 115 | 97 | 27% | 40% |
| West Norwood South | 75.8 | 78.0 | 157 | 103 | 22% | 41% |
| Loughborough Road | 75.1 | 80.4 | 127 | 99 | 32% | 42% |
| Streatham Green | 75.1 | 81.1 | 127 | 94 | 24% | 30% |
| Clapham Common North | 74.1 | 80.4 | 161 | 96 | 23% | 28% |
| Stockwell West | 73.3 | 81.4 | 128 | 110 | 28% | 33% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Stockwell West’s men’s life expectancy is 73.3 with a 95% range of 71.8 to 74.9. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Lambeth; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
King's College Hospital saw 56% 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: King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at King's College Hospital, the nearest to Lambeth (1.3 mi).
The share seen within four hours slipped from an average of 57% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 55% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are commoner than at 77% of trusts: 8,992 patients in 12 months, 21% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for King's College Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2026), the hospital overall requires improvement (2026).
London trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.3 mi | King's College Hospital A&E London · King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 2.9 mi | St Thomas' Hospital A&E London · Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Outstanding2026 |
| 3.2 mi | St George's Hospital (Tooting) A&E London · St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 3.3 mi | Royal Brompton Hospital London · Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust | Good2019 | — |
| 3.4 mi | Chelsea and Westminster Hospital A&E London · Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | Outstanding2026 |
| 3.5 mi | Guy's Hospital London · Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | — |
| 4.3 mi | University Hospital Lewisham A&E London · Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust | Requires improvement2024 | Good2019 |
| 4.3 mi | St Bartholomew's Hospital London · Barts Health NHS Trust | Good2017 | — |
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.
87% of adults in the South East London 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 Lambeth).
South East London has the 3rd highest of England’s 36 health areas; across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of South East London patients who did, 78% 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 Lambeth 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.
26% of Lambeth’s residents are income-deprived, more than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 78.2 years for men; Lambeth’s is 78.2. For women it predicts 82.2, and Lambeth’s 83.1 is 0.9 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 Lambeth
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.
80% of patients rate Lambeth’s 40 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 4th of 38 English towns of 222,000 to 428,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Road Surgery SW16 2XT · 4,706 adult patients | 95% good · range 91%–97% | 92% | 67% | Good2026 |
| The Exchange Surgery SW16 2ST · 6,030 adult patients | 94% good · range 89%–97% | 77% | 87% | Good2024 |
| Stockwell Group Practice SW9 9TJ · 11,152 adult patients | 94% good · range 80%–98% | 62% | 64% | Good2017 |
| The Grantham Practice SW9 9DL · 7,740 adult patients | 93% good · range 86%–97% | 90% | 78% | Good2020 |
| Hetherington Group Practice SW4 7NU · 6,886 adult patients | 92% good · range 84%–96% | 71% | 88% | Good2017 |
| Grafton Medical Partners SW4 0DE · 5,909 adult patients | 92% good · range 84%–96% | 84% | 91% | Good2017 |
| Drs Patel and Partner SW9 6NA · 6,505 adult patients | 91% good · range 82%–96% | 81% | 63% | Good2025 |
| Clapham Park Group Practice SW4 8JP · 18,176 adult patients | 89% good · range 69%–97% | 87% | 74% | Good2017 |
| Beckett House Practice SW9 9DL · 7,923 adult patients | 87% good · range 80%–92% | 77% | 85% | Good2016 |
| Herne Hill Group Practice SE24 9QP · 12,627 adult patients | 87% good · range 74%–94% | 82% | 90% | Good2025 |
| The Corner Surgery SE5 9NS · 5,537 adult patients | 86% good · range 82%–90% | 81% | 80% | Good2023 |
| Palace Road Surgery SW2 3DY · 6,704 adult patients | 86% good · range 80%–91% | 75% | 63% | Good2018 |
| Brockwell Park Surgery SE24 9AE · 7,087 adult patients | 86% good · range 81%–90% | 89% | 57% | Good2023 |
| The Streatham Hill Group Practice SW16 2PG · 6,558 adult patients | 86% good · range 80%–90% | 81% | 86% | Good2016 |
| The Sandmere Road Practice SW4 7QJ · 11,297 adult patients | 84% good · range 68%–93% | 78% | 81% | Good2019 |
| HHR Medical SE24 0AU · 5,872 adult patients | 84% good · range 77%–89% | 68% | 82% | Good2018 |
| Springfield Primary Care Centre SW8 2SH · 5,854 adult patients | 84% good · range 79%–87% | 66% | 70% | Good2017 |
| Brixton Hill Group Practice SW2 1AE · 11,064 adult patients | 83% good · range 67%–92% | 66% | 77% | Good2017 |
| The Old Dairy Health Centre SE21 8SZ · 4,748 adult patients | 83% good · range 79%–87% | 68% | 68% | Good2023 |
| Queenstown Road Medical Practice SW8 3RX · 6,197 adult patients | 83% good · range 75%–89% | 82% | 77% | Good2025 |
| Binfield Road Surgery SW4 6TB · 8,969 adult patients | 82% good · range 67%–92% | 68% | 73% | Good2017 |
| North Wood Group Practice SE19 3NY · 13,120 adult patients | 81% good · range 68%–90% | 50% | 73% | Good2019 |
| The Clapham Family Practice SW4 7DB · 17,776 adult patients | 81% good · range 55%–94% | 52% | 71% | Good2021 |
| South Lambeth Road Practice SW8 1UL · 9,474 adult patients | 80% good · range 72%–87% | 71% | 80% | Good2016 |
| Knights Hill Surgery SE27 0DF · 9,158 adult patients | 78% good · range 69%–86% | 61% | 65% | Good2017 |
| The Deerbrook Surgery SE27 9AW · 6,178 adult patients | 78% good · range 70%–85% | 60% | 72% | Good2021 |
| Edith Cavell Surgery SW2 4TP · 16,886 adult patients | 77% good · range 50%–92% | 43% | 78% | Good2026 |
| Lambeth Walk Group Practice SW9 6AF · 6,651 adult patients | 77% good · range 70%–82% | 74% | 77% | Good2024 |
| Minet Green Health Practice SW9 6AF · 9,830 adult patients | 76% good · range 68%–83% | 70% | 72% | Good2016 |
| Streatham Common Practice SW16 5LS · 9,669 adult patients | 76% good · range 65%–85% | 59% | 75% | Good2017 |
The 30 highest-rated of 40 practices shown.
Valley Road Surgery has the borough’s highest rating (95%). Hurley Clinic is by far the largest, with 20,773 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 Lambeth when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
87% of residents say their health is good or very good
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 99 report bad health for every 100 expected, close to the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Lambeth | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 87% | 85% | 82% |
| Fair health | 9.5% | 10% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 13% | 13% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 5.4% | 5.8% | 7.4% |
London and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Lambeth’s Health Grade is 16th of 40 UK towns of 222,000 to 428,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Lambeth, and others in London. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bromley London | 325,469 | 81.3 / 85.1 | 78 | B+ |
| 2 | Barnet London | 388,572 | 81.4 / 85.4 | 77 | B |
| 3 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 80.9 / 85.2 | 78 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Croydon London | 389,242 | 78.8 / 83.7 | 102 | C |
| 15 | Haringey London | 264,069 | 78.8 / 84.2 | 101 | C |
| 16 | Lambeth London | 317,108 | 78.2 / 83.1 | 102 | C |
| 17 | Waltham Forest London | 278,129 | 78.5 / 83.6 | 99 | C |
| 18 | Southwark London | 307,076 | 78.3 / 83.5 | 103 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Belfast Belfast | 293,298 | 76.3 / 80.5 | — | 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 Lambeth
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lambeth | 317,108 | 78.2 / 83.1 | 1.3 mi | C |
| Southwark | 307,076 | 78.3 / 83.5 | 1.1 mi | C |
| Wandsworth | 326,725 | 79.8 / 84.5 | 1.8 mi | B− |
| Lewisham | 300,764 | 78.2 / 82.7 | 0.3 mi | C |
| City of London | 7,820 | 84.1 / 87.1 | 1.5 mi | A+ |
| Merton | 214,931 | 79.9 / 84.6 | 1.4 mi | B− |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 143,348 | 81.5 / 86.2 | 1.3 mi | B+ |
| Westminster | 203,571 | 81.2 / 85.4 | 0.2 mi | B− |
City of London, 4.5 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 84.1, 5.9 years longer than Lambeth’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 King's College 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 Lambeth.
- 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 Lambeth
How healthy is Lambeth?
Lambeth earns a C for health, healthier than 30% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 16th of 40 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 78.2 for men and 83.1 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 102 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
Which parts of Lambeth have the highest life expectancy?
For men, Streatham Central (81.8), West Dulwich (81.3) and Streatham Vale (81.1); the shortest is Stockwell West (73.3). For women, Streatham Vale is highest (86.5) and West Norwood South lowest (78.0). OHID figures for 2019 to 2023, by neighbourhood of about 8,000 people.
How long are A&E waits at King's College Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 56% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 52%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Lambeth?
It is easier than in most of England. In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 87% of adults in the South East London 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 Lambeth do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, Valley Road Surgery (95% good overall), The Exchange Surgery (94% good overall) and Stockwell Group Practice (94% good overall). Across all 40 Lambeth practices, 80% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Lambeth?
78.2 years for men and 83.1 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 64.6 of those years and women 65.5 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.