Work stream 2: Improved data and information provision

2007 Achievement highlights

This is a wide and ambitious work-stream and one where PHOs are contributing significant expertise. Working on behalf of APHO, lead PHOs have:

• produced the second set of annual Health Profiles for each local council in England. The Profiles aim to help them tackle health inequalities (see box) and work on the production of Health Profiles 2008 is already underway
• worked in close collaboration with the Department of Health, the Information Centre and other national bodies, to identify new data collection sources (and improve access to existing ones) in areas such as mental health, drug misuse, sexual health, ethnicity and diversity
• begun collating a national directory of surveillance systems on important public health issues such as alcohol and drugs misuse, as well as producing a guide to the best use of these data for public health intelligence
• contributed to the development of better primary care datasets which will support a more evidence based approach to practice based commissioning, as well as allowing better prevalence estimates for important conditions. Prevalence estimates produced so far include those for coronary heart disease, hypertension and chronic respiratory disease
• further developed the Health Inequalities Intervention Tool (LHO and YHPHO) as part of wider work on modelling and target setting. At PCT level, the tool models the impact (for Spearhead areas) on life expectancy of initiatives such as smoking cessation and statin prescribing. The tool is currently being extended to include other interventions and plans are also underway to develop it for use by non-spearhead authorities as well
• enhanced PCT dental surveys for children, strengthening the quality assurance, data management and sampling protocols they use. North West PHO will be undertaking additional analysis of the national data, using geographical and geodemographic data to provide a report on local inequalities in dental health. These datasets will be available to inform local health needs assessments.
• worked collaboratively with the Department of Health, the Information Centre and the Food Standards Agency to investigate ways to enhance the availability of survey data on important public health issues, for example through a review and needs assessment of local-level diet and nutrition data. The review aims to identify how best to fill gaps in the diet and nutrition data needed to inform planning for health improvement, particularly at local authority and PCT level. East Midlands PHO is leading in this area.