Photo: Robert Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0Life expectancy in Bath runs ahead of the figure across England: 80.2 for men and 84.5 for women
England as a whole stood at 79.1 and 83.0 over 2019 to 2023. Inside the town, men’s life expectancy runs from 76.6 in Oldfield Park West to 83.0 in Walcot, 1.6 miles apart. Bath grades B for health: life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, early deaths, hospital admissions, child obesity and Census health, each adjusted for age; #22 of 49 in Somerset.
What stands out about health in Bath
A 6-year gap from one part of Bath to another
Men in Walcot can expect to live to 83.0, longer than the English average of 79.1. In Oldfield Park West, 1.6 miles away, the figure is 76.6, and Twerton records 132 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected for its ages. For women the range is 80.5 in Twerton to 88.3 in Walcot. Neighbourhoods ↓
Patients rate Bath’s GP practices above England’s
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 84% of patients at Bath’s 9 practices called their overall experience good, against 77% across England, and 70% found it easy to get through by phone (57% in England). That is ahead of 71% of English towns. GP practices ↓
A&E waits run longer than England’s, but fewer patients wait 12 hours for a bed
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the A&E at Royal United Hospital Bath, saw 57% of major-A&E patients within four hours in the 12 months to September 2026, against 61% across England: 72nd of 117 trusts. 5.7% of patients admitted through its A&Es waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit, against 13% in England. A&E ↓
Fewer of Bath’s children are obese
15% 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 82% of UK towns. Health Grade ↓
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.
Bath grades B for health
Healthier than 58% of UK towns, on age-adjusted measures.
What holds the grade back: men’s life expectancy and deaths under 75 (better than 46% and 46% of UK towns). What lifts it: child obesity (82%) and emergency admissions (64%). Among the 84 UK towns of 66,000 to 127,000 people, Bath’s Health Grade is the 5th 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 Bath runs from 76.6 to 83.0
Life expectancy at birth, 2019–23, in Bath’s 14 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 Bath than across England. Twerton has the most deaths under 75 for its ages (132 per 100 expected), against 56 in Walcot.
Show every measure as a table
| Neighbourhood | Men | Women | Deaths under 75 | Emergency admissions | Year 6 obese | Income-deprived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walcot | 83.0 | 88.3 | 56 | 78 | 12% | 13% |
| Weston | 82.7 | 84.7 | 76 | 94 | 16% | 14% |
| Bloomfield | 82.4 | 86.3 | 57 | 75 | 10% | 6.3% |
| Widcombe, Bathwick Hill & Claverton Down | 82.1 | 86.2 | 55 | 56 | 7.1% | 3.9% |
| Kingsmead | 81.3 | 81.8 | 90 | 73 | 14% | 12% |
| Combe Down | 80.6 | 87.9 | 73 | 91 | 20% | 21% |
| Odd Down | 80.6 | 83.7 | 83 | 91 | 16% | 18% |
| Oldfield Park East | 80.4 | 82.1 | 82 | 72 | 12% | 14% |
| Newbridge | 80.3 | 84.1 | 88 | 90 | 8.8% | 9.7% |
| Lambridge & Fairfield Park | 80.0 | 82.5 | 87 | 81 | 13% | 12% |
| Southdown | 79.6 | 87.4 | 82 | 93 | 22% | 24% |
| Central Bath & Lansdown | 78.0 | 85.9 | 93 | 83 | 13% | 12% |
| Twerton | 77.1 | 80.5 | 132 | 134 | 23% | 37% |
| Oldfield Park West | 76.6 | 80.8 | 120 | 71 | 22% | 8.7% |
Deaths and admissions per 100 expected for each area’s ages (England = 100). Each figure has a range: Oldfield Park West’s men’s life expectancy is 76.6 with a 95% range of 74.8 to 78.4. Neighbourhoods are ONS middle-layer areas at least 30% inside Bath; names are the House of Commons Library’s.
84% of patients rate Bath’s 9 GP practices good
GP Patient Survey 2026 (NHS England, run by Ipsos), about 100 patients a practice, against 77% across England. 4th of 79 English towns of 66,000 to 127,000, from the highest.
| Practice | Overall experience | Easy by phone | Wait about right | CQC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Park Health Centre BA1 6EA · 12,132 adult patients | 95% good · range 85%–99% | 86% | 49% | Good2016 |
| Newbridge Surgery BA1 3PT · 7,357 adult patients | 92% good · range 86%–96% | 83% | 88% | Good2016 |
| St Michael's Surgery BA2 1ER · 6,516 adult patients | 91% good · range 85%–95% | 88% | 83% | Good2016 |
| Oldfield Surgery BA2 3HT · 21,729 adult patients | 87% good · range 76%–93% | 62% | 85% | Good2026 |
| Combe Down Surgery BA2 5EG · 11,121 adult patients | 84% good · range 73%–91% | 56% | 73% | Outstanding2016 |
| University Medical Centre BA2 7AY · 11,726 adult patients | 81% good · range 57%–93% | 90% | 76% | Good2020 |
| Widcombe Surgery BA2 4JT · 7,631 adult patients | 78% good · range 65%–87% | 59% | 72% | Good2016 |
| The Pulteney Practice BA2 4BY · 10,787 adult patients | 75% good · range 61%–86% | 53% | 57% | Good2017 |
| Rush Hill Surgery BA2 2QH · 7,156 adult patients | 70% good · range 60%–79% | 60% | 53% | Good2016 |
Fairfield Park Health Centre has the town’s highest rating (95%). Oldfield Surgery is by far the largest, with 21,729 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 Bath when its main surgery is inside the built-up area; branch surgeries are part of their main practice. CQC ratings © Care Quality Commission.
Royal United Hospitals Bath saw 57% 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: Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust runs the A&E at Royal United Hospital Bath, the nearest to Bath (1.3 mi).
The share seen within four hours has held near 57% over 18 months. Long waits for a bed are rarer than at 70% of trusts: 1,921 patients in 12 months, 5.7% of emergency admissions through A&E. CQC’s latest ratings for Royal United Hospital Bath: urgent and emergency services requires improvement (2026), the hospital overall requires improvement (2026).
South West trusts
Hospitals within 25 miles
| Distance | Hospital | CQC overall | Urgent & emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 mi | Royal United Hospital Bath A&E Bath · Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2026 | Requires improvement2026 |
| 9.4 mi | South Bristol NHS Community Hospital Bristol · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Good2026 | — |
| 10 mi | Frome Birth Centre (Frome Community Hospital) Frome · Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | Good2024 | — |
| 10 mi | Frome Community Hospital Frome · Somerset NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 11 mi | Bristol Eye Hospital Assessment Clinic @ The Galleries Bristol · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | — |
| 11 mi | UHBW Bristol Campus A&E Bristol · Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Requires improvement2025 | Requires improvement2025 |
| 12 mi | Chippenham Community Hospital Chippenham · Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | Good2024 | — |
| 12 mi | Southmead Hospital A&E Bristol · University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust | Not rated | 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.
Men’s life expectancy in Bath is 0.7 years below 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.
14% of Bath’s residents are income-deprived, less than in most English towns. For that level, the line predicts 80.9 years for men; Bath’s is 80.2. For women it predicts 84.5, and Bath’s 84.5 is close to it.
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 Bath
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.
81% of adults in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire 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 Bath).
Across England 82% of those who tried got an appointment. Of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire patients who did, 73% 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.
More people in Bath call their health good than across Somerset
Census 2021, all residents, as answered (not adjusted for age).
Bath’s residents are younger than Somerset’s (17% are 65 or over, against 23%), which accounts for much of the difference. Adjusted for age, 80 report bad health for every 100 expected, fewer than the national rate.
Show as a table
| Census 2021 | Bath | Somerset | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 82% | 82% |
| Fair health | 11% | 13% | 13% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.9% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled under the Equality Act | 16% | 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.
Bath’s Health Grade is 5th of 84 UK towns of 66,000 to 127,000
Ordered by Health Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Bath, and others in Somerset. Life expectancy for men / women; deaths under 75 per 100 expected.
| # | Town | People | Life expectancy | Deaths under 75 | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Albans Hertfordshire | 75,544 | 80.7 / 84.6 | 79 | A− |
| 2 | Maidenhead Berkshire | 67,391 | 81.2 / 85.5 | 77 | B+ |
| 3 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 81.4 / 85.5 | 78 | B+ |
| 4 | Woking Surrey | 75,655 | 80.6 / 84.2 | 87 | B |
| 5 | Bath Somerset | 94,080 | 80.2 / 84.5 | 84 | B |
| 6 | Royal Sutton Coldfield West Midlands | 93,392 | 81.5 / 84.5 | 83 | B |
| 7 | Solihull West Midlands | 107,754 | 81.0 / 84.7 | 80 | B |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Weston-super-Mare Somerset | 84,600 | 78.3 / 82.8 | 110 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 84 | 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 Bath
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | 94,080 | 80.2 / 84.5 | 1.3 mi | B |
| Bathampton | 1,698 | 84.1 / 86.6 | 3 mi | A+ |
| Newton St Loe | 1,372 | 80.7 / 87.9 | 2.5 mi | B− |
| Batheaston | 3,878 | 83.8 / 86.2 | 3.3 mi | A+ |
| Bathford | 1,153 | 84.1 / 86.6 | 4 mi | A+ |
| Saltford | 4,133 | 81.3 / 84.0 | 3.1 mi | A− |
| Winsley | 1,365 | 84.3 / 87.1 | 5.4 mi | A+ |
| Peasedown St John | 6,668 | 80.7 / 87.9 | 5.5 mi | B |
Winsley, 4.2 miles away, has men’s life expectancy of 84.3, 4.1 years longer than Bath’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 Royal United Hospitals Bath 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 Bath.
- 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 Bath
How healthy is Bath?
Bath earns a B for health, healthier than 58% of UK towns on measures adjusted for age, and 5th of 84 UK towns of its size. Life expectancy is 80.2 for men and 84.5 for women (England 79.1 and 83.0), and there are 84 deaths under 75 for every 100 expected.
Which parts of Bath have the highest life expectancy?
For men, Walcot (83.0), Weston (82.7) and Bloomfield (82.4); the shortest is Oldfield Park West (76.6). For women, Walcot is highest (88.3) and Twerton lowest (80.5). OHID figures for 2019 to 2023, by neighbourhood of about 8,000 people.
How long are A&E waits at Royal United Hospital Bath?
NHS England publishes waits for the trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. In the 12 months to September 2026 it saw 57% of major-A&E patients within four hours, against 61% across England; in September 2026 the figure was 57%. In an emergency call 999; for urgent advice call NHS 111.
Can I get an NHS dentist in Bath?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 81% of adults in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire 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 Bath do patients rate highest?
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, Fairfield Park Health Centre (95% good overall), Newbridge Surgery (92% good overall) and St Michael's Surgery (91% good overall). Across all 9 Bath practices, 84% of patients rate their practice good, against 77% in England.
What is the life expectancy in Bath?
80.2 years for men and 84.5 for women, on OHID’s figures for 2019 to 2023. Men can expect 67.5 of those years and women 69.6 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.