Photo: C.E.G.B. · CC BY-SA 2.0Life expectancy in Cottam is 81.2 for men and 83.3 for women
Across England the figures for 2019 to 2023 are 79.1 and 83.0. Cottam has no Health Grade.
What stands out about health in Cottam
More patients are seen within four hours than across England, but 12-hour waits for a bed are commoner
United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the A&E at Lincoln County Hospital, saw 65% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 33rd of 117 trusts. 23% 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.
United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals 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: United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust runs the A&E at Lincoln County Hospital, the nearest to Cottam (12 mi).
The share seen within four hours rose from an average of 60% in April 2025 to September 2025 to 69% in the latest six months; England’s was 62%. Long waits for a bed are commoner than at 81% of trusts: 13,584 patients in 12 months, 23% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Lincoln County Hospital: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2025), the hospital overall requires improvement (2025).
Midlands trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 mi | John Coupland Hospital Gainsborough · United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
| 7.1 mi | John Coupland Hospital Gainsborough · Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust | Not rated | — |
| 7.3 mi | Retford Hospital Retford · Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2024 | — |
| 12 mi | Lincoln County Hospital A&E Lincoln · United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2025 |
| 14 mi | Bassetlaw District General Hospital A&E Worksop · Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2024 |
| 17 mi | Newark Hospital Newark · Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | — |
| 20 mi | Scunthorpe General Hospital A&E Scunthorpe · Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 21 mi | Doncaster Royal Infirmary A&E Doncaster · Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
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 Cottam
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 Cottam itself
The nearest practices.
| Practice | Distance | CQC rating |
|---|---|---|
| North Leverton Surgery Retford DN22 0AB | 2.5 mi | Good2017 |
| Willingham-by-Stow Surgery Gainsborough DN21 5JZ | 4.7 mi | Good2016 |
| The Glebe Practice Lincoln LN1 2NU | 5.1 mi | Good2017 |
| Trent Valley Surgery Lincoln LN1 2NU | 5.1 mi | Requires improvement2023 |
| Caskgate Street Surgery Gainsborough DN21 2DJ | 6.2 mi | Good2024 |
| Riverside Health Centre Retford DN22 6FB | 7 mi | Good2016 |
GP practices registered with the Care Quality Commission, placed in the town by their postcode. A practice counts as in Cottam 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.
83% of adults in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire 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 Cottam).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire patients who did, 72% 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 Cottam call their health good than across Nottinghamshire
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Cottam’s residents are older than Nottinghamshire’s (27% are 65 or over, against 18%), which accounts for much of the difference. Adjusted for age, 102 report bad health for every 100 expected, close to the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Cottam | Nottinghamshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 73% | 80% | 82% |
| Fair health | 21% | 14% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.2% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 24% | 19% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 9.7% | 8.5% | 7.4% |
Nottinghamshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Health in the places around Cottam
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottam | 113 | 81.2 / 83.3 | 12 mi | — |
| North Leverton with Habblesthorpe | 1,079 | 80.5 / 84.2 | 12 mi | B− |
| Lea | 1,006 | 79.7 / 83.0 | 14 mi | C+ |
| Sturton by Stow | 1,485 | 79.7 / 83.0 | 8.2 mi | C+ |
| Saxilby | 4,432 | 80.8 / 84.5 | 6.4 mi | B+ |
| Clarborough | 1,220 | 80.5 / 84.2 | 8.6 mi | B− |
| East Markham | 1,273 | 81.2 / 83.3 | 10 mi | B |
| Gainsborough | 21,899 | 74.8 / 80.3 | 14 mi | D |
Gainsborough, 6.4 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 74.8, 6.4 years shorter than Cottam’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 United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals 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).
- 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 Cottam
How long are A&E waits at Lincoln County Hospital?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS 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 64%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Cottam?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 83% of adults in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire 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 Cottam?
There’s no GP surgery inside Cottam itself; the nearest is about 2.5 mi away.
What is the life expectancy in Cottam?
81.2 years for men and 83.3 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 66.6 of those years and women 67.7 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.