From average life expectancy, to the number of GP surgeries, to the most beds in care homes, to A&E wait times, new analysis looks at which English towns and cities are the best places to grow old in.

Sunderland is ranked joint-twelfth-best place to grow old in England (tied with Darlington, Gateshead, and Wirral), according to new research compiled by Health Connect Global, a health technology company focused on improving patient care.

Using Government data on everything from average life expectancy, the number of care home beds in each area, how many GP surgeries there are, A&E wait times, referral times, and national data on how happy people are, Health Connect Global's 'Top Towns and Cities to Grow Old' index finds out where the best places in the country are for older people to live.

As the Government develops its 10-year health plan to move more patients from hospitals and into community care, making local healthcare more accessible is increasingly critical for older adults.

Sunderland comes out strong in 12th place

Sunderland claims joint 12th place overall, tied with Darlington, Gateshead, and Wirral, scoring well for its strong care home provision at 86 beds per 10,000 people, ranking 12th nationally. The city also has good GP access with 14.94 surgeries per 100,000 people, ranking 21st.

Sunderland has life expectancy of 78.71 years and a happiness score of 7.33, ranking 26th. Residents also benefit from good trauma and orthopedic services with 58.7% of referrals seen within 18 weeks, ranking 16th nationally.

Sunderland performs well in North East comparison

Sunderland's joint 12th place ranking puts it level with Gateshead and two other areas nationally as leading North East locations. Both Sunderland and Gateshead have similar care home provision, Sunderland with 86 beds per 10,000 people (12th) and Gateshead with 87 beds, ranking 10th.

Newcastle upon Tyne places at 28th position. While Newcastle has similar life expectancy at 79.65 years, Sunderland outperforms on care home provision and has stronger happiness levels at 7.33 compared to Newcastle's 7.28.

Dr Devan Moodley, CEO of Health Connect Global, said: "Across the country people are growing older and older, and depending more on the health and social care system as they live for longer with more complex health conditions. Sunderland's solid all-round healthcare provision demonstrates the value of comprehensive care.

“As a society, we need to do as much as possible to make sure that older people get the support and care they need, including better access to family doctors and the best possible support in care homes. The research shines a light on where we are doing brilliantly in this country, but also shows that so much more needs to be done, from investing in better community care, to using the latest technology, so everyone can live with dignity in their old age."

Methodology

To calculate a town or city’s score in the ‘Top 20 Towns and Cities to Grow Old’ index, each local authority was scored and ranked against four variables: average life expectancy, happiness index score, number of GP surgeries per 100,000 people, number of care home beds per capita, proportion of A&E wait times over 4 hours, and percentage of referral for Trauma and Orthopaedic Service within 18 weeks.

The data for these variables was drawn from the most recently available Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases and NHS data sets.

To establish the list of towns and cities, large local authority areas were removed, and an average was taken of London Boroughs to form London waitings.

Each variable was ranked separately. A higher performance on a metric received a lower rank (for example, the longest life expectancy was ranked 1st, while the shortest received the lowest rank). This ranking approach was applied across all four variables.

The ideal rankings were therefore awarded to towns and cities with higher life expectancy, higher happiness scores, more GP surgeries per 100,000 people, and more care home beds per capita.