Photo: Richard Webb · CC BY-SA 2.0Life expectancy in Wooler runs ahead of the figure across England: 82.4 for men and 85.4 for women
For 2019 to 2023, England’s figures are 79.1 and 83.0. Wooler grades B 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 Wooler
Patients rate Wooler’s GP practices above England’s
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 96% of patients at Wooler’s one practice called their overall experience good, against 77% across England, and 96% found it easy to get through by phone (57% in England). That is ahead of 98% of English towns. GP practices ↓
More A&E patients are seen within four hours than across England
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, saw 77% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 4th of 117 trusts. 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.
Wooler grades B for health
Healthier than 59% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: child obesity and Census bad health (better than 29% and 37% of UK towns). What lifts it: men’s life expectancy (85%) and emergency admissions (81%). Among the 1,799 UK towns of 1,000 to 3,000 people, Wooler’s Health Grade is the 1,012th 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.
96% of patients rate Wooler’s GP practice good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 35th of 321 English towns of 1,000 to 3,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooler Health NE71 6BL · 4,275 adult patients | 96% good · range 94%–98% | 96% | 97% | Not rated |
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 Wooler when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
Northumbria Healthcare saw 77% 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: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the nearest to Wooler (37 mi).
The share seen within four hours rose from an average of 77% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 80% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. CQC’s latest ratings for Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2019), the hospital overall good (2023).
North East and Yorkshire trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 mi | Alnwick Infirmary Alnwick · Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Good2019 | — |
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.
Care in and near Wooler
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.
77% of adults in the North East and North Cumbria 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 Wooler).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of North East and North Cumbria patients who did, 71% 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.
Fewer people in Wooler call their health good than across Northumberland
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Wooler’s residents are older than Northumberland’s (41% are 65 or over, against 25%), which accounts for much of the difference. Adjusted for age, 95 report bad health for every 100 expected, close to the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Wooler | Northumberland | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 78% | 82% |
| Fair health | 18% | 16% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.7% | 6.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 24% | 22% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 9.8% | 9.4% | 7.4% |
Northumberland and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Wooler’s Health Grade is 1,012th of 1,799 UK towns of 1,000 to 3,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Wooler, and others in Northumberland. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Keswick West Yorkshire | 1,145 | 86.0 / 88.4 | 45 | A+ |
| 2 | Bardsey West Yorkshire | 1,819 | 86.0 / 88.4 | 45 | A+ |
| 3 | Collingham West Yorkshire | 2,362 | 86.0 / 88.4 | 45 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 111 | Heddon-on-the-Wall Northumberland | 1,300 | 84.7 / 89.0 | 60 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 150 | Stocksfield Northumberland | 1,944 | 82.1 / 86.4 | 65 | A |
| … | |||||
| 228 | Corbridge Northumberland | 2,888 | 82.1 / 86.6 | 63 | A |
| … | |||||
| 1010 | Yorkley and Whitecroft Gloucestershire | 2,678 | 80.1 / 85.3 | 79 | B |
| 1011 | Milverton Somerset | 1,112 | 80.1 / 85.1 | 71 | B |
| 1012 | Wooler Northumberland | 1,930 | 82.4 / 85.4 | 77 | B |
| 1013 | Beeford East Riding of Yorkshire | 1,093 | 80.4 / 84.4 | 79 | B |
| 1014 | Farndon Nottinghamshire | 2,472 | 81.2 / 83.2 | 79 | B |
| … | |||||
| 1799 | Fallin Stirling | 2,769 | 71.1 / 75.5 | — | 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 Wooler
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooler | 1,930 | 82.4 / 85.4 | 37 mi | B |
| Belford | 1,314 | 82.4 / 85.4 | 37 mi | B |
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 Northumbria Healthcare 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 Wooler.
- 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 Wooler
How healthy is Wooler?
Wooler earns a B for health, healthier than 59% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 1,012th of 1,799 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 82.4 for men and 85.4 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 77 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 77% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 79%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Wooler?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 77% of adults in the North East and North Cumbria 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 Wooler?
Wooler has 1 GP practice with surgeries inside the town.
What is the life expectancy in Wooler?
82.4 years for men and 85.4 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 68.0 of those years and women 69.3 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.