FAQs

General Questions About the Data Local Authority Profiles Regional Profiles

GENERAL QUESTIONS

Who are the profiles aimed at?
The local profiles are intended to be used by local government, community groups and health services. The regional profiles are intended to be used by people involved in planning services at regional and local level. The profiles are also made publicly available for transparency and public interest.

What will the profiles be used for?
The profiles will be used to help prioritise and plan services. They are designed to help show the differences in health between different areas, within regions or across England, so that the right services can be put in place for each area.

Can I reproduce parts of them?
You can reproduce sections of the profiles for non-commercial purposes, so long as they are acknowledged as ‘Source: APHO and Department of Health. © Crown Copyright 2010’. If you have any questions about reproducing or using the profiles, please contact the Health Profiles team by email to healthprofiles@sepho.nhs.uk or telephone 01865 334765.

Can I have a printed copy?
You can download copies of the pdf files from the website, and print them. If you would like high quality print copies, please contact the Health Profiles production team by email to healthprofiles@sepho.nhs.uk or telephone 01865 334765. You can also print the maps and charts that you produce using the interactive atlases.

How do I find out more about health in my local area?
Each area profile report includes a link to further information within the summary text on the front page. This is often the local primary care trust or local strategic partnership. You could also look for health related information produced by your local authority and GP practice. The NHS Choices website, www.nhs.uk, is good starting point to look up information relating to your area. The website www.data.gov.uk will help you identify what sources of data are available relating to the topic or area you are interested in.

What about health in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Local profiles are available for Scotland and Wales, in a different format from the England profiles - see the Links section of this website. Regional profiles are available for England. Health profiles are not yet available for Northern Ireland.

What about comparing to other countries?
Comparisons with health in other countries are shown in the national Health Profile of England. This is produced by the Department of Health and available through the menu button on the left.

ABOUT THE DATA

Why is there no indicator data for Indicator 21 Drug Misuse in the 2010 profiles?
New Problematic Drug User estimates were not available in time for inclusion in the Health Profiles 2010 thus no data has been presented for this indicator in Health Profiles 2010. In the 2009 Health Profiles the Drug Misuse Indicator was a modelled estimate of the number of problem drug users in a local authority district. The analysis uses the problem drug user prevalence data (2006/07) provided by the Home Office and The National Treatment Agency for Top Tier Local Authorities (Counties, MCDs, UAs, LBs) and the number of opiate and/or crack users in treatment data by Local Authority District provided by the National Treatment Agency (2006/07).

How did you choose the indicators?
We included an indicator if it met the following criteria:

It has an important effect on the health of the local population
It can support local government and NHS management processes
It is valid in that it measures what it tries to measure
It is primarily based on existing indicators consistently available nationally
It is primarily available at Local Authority level
It allows meaningful comparisons to be made between places
It can be communicated easily to a wide audience.

Why have some of the indicators changed from previous years?
Indicators have changed where new data has become available, where the changes to the indicator would represent an improvement or make the indicator more relevant. The selection and methodology of indicators is maintained where possible in order to enable trending year on year.

Where does the data come from? How do you know it is right?
The data used in Health Profiles comes from several different sources. The sources are given in the metadata document 'The Indicator Guide: Health Profiles 2010' which also provides details of how each indicator is created. See the 'Data' section for more details.

Why are the data years in the profiles not the same as the year the profiles are released?
We use the most up to date data available at the time we create the profiles. Not all of the sources we use are updated every year.

Can I look at the data behind these indicators and profiles?
Yes, the full set of data tables are available for download via the ‘Data' menu button.

LOCAL AUTHORITY PROFILES

What is the point of highlighting a local problem? Doesn’t this worry local people without solving the problem?
Problems cannot be dealt with until they are seen. Local authorities and health services have a duty to improve the health and wellbeing of local people, and to do this in the most efficient way they can. Using Health Profiles helps to show everyone where health is not as good as it could be, so that action can be taken.

Why use local authority geography?
Local Authority (LA) is a generic term for any level of local government in the United Kingdom. In geographic terms LAs include English counties, county districts, metropolitan districts, unitary authorities and London boroughs; Welsh unitary authorities; Scottish council areas; and Northern Irish district council areas. Historically many health-related datasets are available at local authority level. LAs play and important part in delivering interventions to improve health and reduce inequalities. All local authorities have a community plan which outlines the action that they intend to take to improve conditions in their local area. Health Profiles aim to inform local community plans. Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are in place across local authorities in England and the profiles should help to monitor these agreements.

Why not use Primary Care Trust geography?
The Health Profiles for England were commissioned by the DH at the level of local authority. The geography of Primary Care organisations has been unstable over the last decade. For example, the number of PCTs in England reduced from 303 to 152 in autumn 2006. The new configurations improve the co-terminosity of PCTs with Local Authorities used by Health Profiles.

REGIONAL PROFILES

Are these new?
Regional Health Profiles were first released in June 2008. The format for the 2009 profiles has been changed to provide more information on individual regions and more input from the Regional Directors of Public Health. The 2009 profiles include four additional pages, more text, regional maps of relevant health indicators, and comparison of local authority areas to the regional average as well as the England average.

Why have you chosen some different charts for different regions of the country?
Different regions have some different health problems and priorities. Regional Directors of Public Health chose some of the charts and maps to highlight important issues in their region.

How do I find out more about health in my region?
First two pages of your Regional Health Profile include references to further information. You can also look at the local authority and county level Health Profiles for your area (available online at www.healthprofiles.info ), and your regional Public Health Observatory (links via the Association of Public Health Observatories website, www.apho.org.uk ).

What do the regional profiles show?
The regional profiles show the considerable amount of variation between different regions in some of the factors that affect people’s health. There can also be wide variations between different parts of each region. Regional Health Profiles help identify some priorities to tackle, and highlight the places where these are particular problems.

What will be done to help with health problems in my region?
Regional Directors of Public Health co-ordinate the strategy for health improvements in each region. The actions planned will depend on what problems the region faces.