FACTORS that increase the risk of heart and circulatory disease are “going in the wrong direction” in Dorset, with poorer areas the worst hit.

A report by a joint Dorset and Bournemouth health scrutiny panel says that despite interventions such as SmokeStop and weight management courses, there were “worrying local trends” developing.

“Despite an overall picture of generally good health among the wider population, some pockets of really quite severe disadvantage are disguised,” it says.

“This is most clearly illustrated in a 10-year difference in life expectancy across a very small geographical distance with the Bournemouth Borough Council area.”

The review looked at health inequalities with a focus on cardiovascular disease, a major cause of early preventable death.

It found that in Dorset, 23.1 per cent of adults have 30 minutes of exercise three times a week, similar to the England average of 21.3 per cent. But in north Bournemouth, the figure is only between 10.8 per cent and 18.1 per cent, compared with between 24 per cent and 37 per cent in some areas in the west.

The report – discussed at this week’s Dorset Health Scrutiny committee – talks of concentrations of disadvantaged people, especially in Boscombe and the Melcombe Regis of Weymouth and Portland, where cardiovascular disease is a significant cause of death. It calls for closer working between local councils and the NHS to help tackle growing health inequalities between different parts of the population.

Panel chairman Cllr Ronald Coatsworth said: “Services provided by local councils, from school meals to leisure and transport facilities, all have an impact on people’s health and we need to work together to address those issues. We have to find a way to positively target the more disadvantaged.”