Photo: The original uploader was Edward at English Wikipedia . · Public domainLife expectancy in Backwell is higher than in 95% of UK towns: 83.6 for men and 89.5 for women
England as a whole stood at 79.1 and 83.0 over 2019 to 2023. Backwell grades A+ for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #1 of 49 in Somerset.
What stands out about health in Backwell
Fewer of Backwell’s children are obese
8% of Year 6 children (aged 10 to 11) were measured as obese over the last three school years, against 22.3% across England; fewer than in 100% of UK towns. Health Grade ↓
More A&E patients are seen within four hours than across England
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at UHBW Bristol Campus, saw 65% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 29th of 117 trusts. 8.6% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
NHS dentists are harder to get than in most of England
Of adults in the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area who tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the last two years, 76% succeeded; across England it was 82%. Dentists ↓
Men live longer lives than Backwell’s level of deprivation would suggest
8.1% of Backwell’s residents are income-deprived. Across England’s towns that predicts men’s life expectancy of 82.2; Backwell’s is 83.6. 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.
Backwell grades A+ for health
Healthier than almost every UK town, on age-adjusted measures.
Ahead of the typical UK town on every measure. Even its weakest, disability and Census bad health, are in the top 20% of UK towns; women’s life expectancy and child obesity lead. Among the 813 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Backwell’s Health Grade is the 14th 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.
Bristol 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: Bristol NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at UHBW Bristol Campus, the nearest to Backwell (7 mi).
The share seen within four hours has held near 67% over 18 months. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 62% of trusts: 6,001 patients in 12 months, 8.6% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for UHBW Bristol Campus: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2025), the hospital overall requires improvement (2025).
South West trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.9 mi | South Bristol NHS Community Hospital Bristol · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | — |
| 7 mi | UHBW Bristol Campus A&E Bristol · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2025 |
| 7.2 mi | Bristol Eye Hospital Assessment Clinic @ The Galleries Bristol · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 8.6 mi | Southmead Hospital A&E Bristol · University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | Not rated |
| 12 mi | Weston General Hospital A&E Weston-super-mare · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | Not rated |
| 15 mi | Royal United Hospital Bath A&E Bath · Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 16 mi | Chepstow Community Hospital Chepstow | Not rated | — |
| 16 mi | Homeward Bound Unit Royal Gwent Hospital Newport | 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.
76% of adults in the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire 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 Backwell).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire patients who did, 68% 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 Backwell is 1.4 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.
8.1% of Backwell’s residents are income-deprived, less than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 82.2 years for men; Backwell’s is 83.6. For women it predicts 85.6, and Backwell’s 89.5 is 4.0 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 Backwell
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 Backwell itself
The nearest practices.
| Practice | Distance | CQC rating |
|---|---|---|
| Tyntesfield Medical Group Bristol BS48 2XX | 1.5 mi | Good2017 |
| Clevedon Medical Centre Clevedon BS21 6DG | 4.7 mi | Good2016 |
| Portishead Medical Group Bristol BS20 6AQ | 4.9 mi | Good2018 |
| Harbourside Family Practice Bristol BS20 7QA | 4.9 mi | Good2019 |
| Heywood Family Practice Bristol BS20 0DL | 5.1 mi | Good2016 |
| Grange Road Surgery Bristol BS13 8LD | 5.3 mi | Good2016 |
GP practices registered with the Care Quality Commission, placed in the town by their postcode. A practice counts as in Backwell 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.
More people in Backwell call their health good than across Somerset
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Adjusted for age, 60 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Backwell | Somerset | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 86% | 82% | 82% |
| Fair health | 11% | 13% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.6% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Day-to-day activities limited a lot | 5.9% | 7.3% | 7.4% |
Somerset and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
Backwell’s Health Grade is 14th of 813 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Backwell, and others in Somerset. 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 | Brookmans Park Hertfordshire | 4,033 | 85.9 / 87.6 | 51 | A+ |
| 3 | Pangbourne Berkshire | 3,279 | 86.0 / 87.7 | 51 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Menston West Yorkshire | 5,905 | 83.5 / 88.8 | 62 | A+ |
| 13 | Girton Cambridgeshire | 4,384 | 84.0 / 87.6 | 58 | A+ |
| 14 | Backwell Somerset | 4,347 | 83.6 / 89.5 | 56 | A+ |
| 15 | Moor Park Hertfordshire | 5,850 | 82.9 / 86.8 | 61 | A+ |
| 16 | Charvil Berkshire | 3,158 | 83.7 / 87.0 | 63 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 25 | Batheaston Somerset | 3,878 | 83.8 / 86.2 | 58 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 44 | Long Ashton Somerset | 5,184 | 83.3 / 85.6 | 63 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 106 | Winscombe and Sandford Somerset | 4,605 | 82.7 / 85.1 | 61 | A |
| … | |||||
| 813 | Ballingry Fife | 5,823 | 73.2 / 76.5 | — | 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 Backwell
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backwell | 4,347 | 83.6 / 89.5 | 7 mi | A+ |
| Nailsea | 15,919 | 81.1 / 85.0 | 7.4 mi | A− |
| Long Ashton | 5,184 | 83.3 / 85.6 | 3.6 mi | A+ |
| Yatton | 7,704 | 81.7 / 86.6 | 7.9 mi | A− |
| Wrington | 1,997 | 85.7 / 87.1 | 9.3 mi | A+ |
| Congresbury | 2,795 | 82.5 / 85.1 | 7.8 mi | B+ |
| Portishead | 26,351 | 82.7 / 85.9 | 7.8 mi | A |
| Clevedon | 21,084 | 81.5 / 85.0 | 9.3 mi | B |
Nailsea, 1.4 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 81.1, 2.5 years shorter than Backwell’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 Bristol 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 Backwell
How healthy is Backwell?
Backwell earns an A+ for health, healthier than almost every UK town on measures adjusted for age, and 14th of 813 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 83.6 for men and 89.5 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 56 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
How long are A&E waits at UHBW Bristol Campus?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Bristol 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 68%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Backwell?
It is harder than in most of England. In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 76% of adults in the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire 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 Backwell?
There’s no GP surgery inside Backwell itself; the nearest is about 1.5 mi away.
What is the life expectancy in Backwell?
83.6 years for men and 89.5 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 72.2 of those years and women 74.7 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.