A NORTH EAST hospital trust is the first in the country to develop and pilot a local Health Index tool, which gives greater insight into population health at a much more local level.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has worked to produce the tool, which anyone will be able to access, with the Office of National Statistics (ONS), national public health expert and chair of the trust’s health inequalities programme board, Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, and two local authorities.
The ONS’s Health Index allows people to look at how health has improved or declined over time, how this varies by area and what is driving this.
Using the national Health Index framework and data from Northumbria Healthcare, Northumberland County Council, North Tyneside Council and other local NHS organisations, the local Health Index tool can provide population health information for each small neighbourhood – around 1,500 people.
The trust said the Index will crucially allow them to help ensure the care they provide in local communities addresses the healthcare needs of the local population.
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Northumbria Healthcare's chief executive, Sir James Mackey, said: "The development of the local Health Index is testament to the power of collaborative working. It also clearly demonstrates our trust’s commitment to tackle health inequalities, continually improve the services and care we provide to our patients and improve the health and wellbeing of the local communities we serve.
"Having the ability to understand in detail how and why health differs between different communities across our patch gives us very valuable and powerful insight allowing us to help improve people's lives and target healthcare interventions where they are most needed.
"This information will allow health leaders, clinicians and other partners to have informed and real-time discussions about health. I would like to thank everyone involved in helping to develop the local Index and look forward to further developing its use."
The Health Index is split into three categories – healthy people (health outcomes), healthy lives (health-related behaviours and personal circumstances) and healthy places (wider social, economic and environmental drivers of health).
These categories can then be broken down further into sub-categories to focus on health topics, such as mental health and economic and working conditions. The sub-categories consist of 56 specific indicators of health, including obesity, alcohol misuse and air pollution.
Each indicator has a national average score of 100. The scores of local indicators can then be compared with the national data to measure the health of local communities.
The local Health Index is available at https://northumbriahealthindex.lcp.uk.com/
Dr Pearson-Stuttard said: "Our prototype local Health Index makes clear the large variations in health and the drivers of health across the Northumbria population. Health Index scores range from 108 in Darras Hall to 92 in Blyth. The differences are even larger when looking at the domains of the Health Index - healthy people, healthy lives and healthy places - with a 24-point difference between the most and least healthy areas for health outcomes (the healthy people domain)."
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