Standing view · health · Staffordshire Moorlands
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025.
Health measures in Staffordshire Moorlands have been worsening. Adults who smoke was 12.75 in 2024 and recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for its year, while deaths before age 75, per 100,000 was 306.63 in 2024 and 277.67 in 2025, both favourable. Hospital admissions for COPD, aged 35 and over, per 100,000 stood at 374.46 in 2023/24. One unfavourable reading against two favourable would normally point the other way; the smoking movement carries more weight here, and the view is held as established rather than strong on that.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Staffordshire Moorlands. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who smoke | 2024 | deteriorating |
| Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 | 2024 | improving |
| Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 | 2025 | improving |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital admissions for COPD, aged 35 and over, per 100,000 | 2023/24 | — |