Health Impact Assessment & Mental Wellbeing

Local Health and Wellbeing Indicators

Lorraine FahyResearch Analyst

Ireland and Northern Ireland’s Population Health Observatory (INIsPHO)

Health Impact Assessment & Mental Wellbeing

Introduction to INIsPHO

Local health and wellbeing indicators

o Use

o Development

o Examples

INIsPHO

• Established in 2005• Housed in the Institute of Public Health

(IPH)• An all-Ireland observatory• Supports each jurisdiction while

maximising benefits of North/South working

• Source of health intelligence/health information

INIsPHO

Better intelligence…Better decisions…

Better health…

Some current work

• Irish Health Poverty Index (iHPI)• All Ireland Health and Social Care Indicator Set

(AIHSC)• Injury Observatory for Britain and Ireland (IOBI)• Health Analysts’ Special Interest Group• eTools

o INIsPHO eData systemo All-Ireland electronic Health Library (AIeHL)

• Event Series

Local health and wellbeing indicators

Factors affecting health & wellbeing

Complex array of political, social, economic and environmental factors - and health and social services issues - that affect the health of a population

Current health status as well as the future health status of an area

National data and local data

Wide range of data available at national level on the broad determinants of health

National figures can mask important differences at regional and local level

Comprehensive data at local level on the broad determinants of health is needed to identify and address inequalities

Uses of local health indicators

Guiding local and national action:• Putting the local situation into a broader context • Providing a national view of what’s going on at the local

level

Awareness raising – keeping health inequalities, their determinants and

the needs of vulnerable populations on the agenda

Specific applications facilitated by regional comparisons:• Local needs assessment & health impact assessment• Planning and delivery of health and social services • National co-ordination of local efforts• Monitoring broad progress on tackling health inequalities

INIsPHO development of local health indicators

No system for monitoring local health across the whole island

Adapted two existing datasets to the whole island

English Health Poverty Index (eHPI) www.hpi.org

Irish Health Poverty Index (iHPI)

Northern Ireland Health Inequalities Monitoring Systemwww.dhsspsni.gov.uk/index/stats_research/stats-equality.htm

All-Ireland Health and Social Care Indicator Set (AIHSC)

Collation of data

Collated data on 82 indicators for 52 local regions across the island

Local level:– 26 Local Government Districts in the North– 26 (traditional) counties in the South

How comparable are measures from two different jurisdictions?Four categories of measures:

– All-Ireland– North and South– North only – South only

iHPI conceptual framework

A flavour of the information collected

Health data:– Mortality and morbidity data– Life expectancy– Hospital admissions– Physical morbidity: benefits received for

different types of physical conditions – Health and social services resourcing– Utilisation and access to health services

Mental health data:– Living alone– Psychological morbidity– Suicide– Psychiatric admissions– Prescribing for anxiety and depression– Social support scale– Can people be trusted?

A flavour of the information collected

Lifestyle data:– Physical activity– Smoking– Fruit and vegetable consumption– Alcohol abuse– Drug misuse

Educational data:– Educational resourcing– Pupil to teacher ratio– Educational attainment

A flavour of the information collected

Web-based visualisation tool

Tables, maps, spider plots and other charts

An exploratory tool to look at: – Relationship between measures (at an area level)– Geographical variation in a single measure across

the island– Profiles of a single area based on multiple-

measures – Geographical comparisons based on multiple

measures– Changes over time (when updated)

www.inispho.org/ihpi

www.inispho.org/aihsc

Accessing the datasets

Data briefings

A selection of Local Health and Wellbeing Indicators

Life expectancy – Northern Ireland vs Republic of Ireland

Northern Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Highest male life expectancy

78.1 years (Ballymoney)

76.9 years (Roscommon)

Lowest male life expectancy

73.5 years (Belfast)

72.8 years (Leitrim)

Highest female life expectancy

82.4 years (Ballymoney)

82.2 years (Roscommon)

Lowest female life expectancy

79.3 years (Derry)

79.3 years(Limerick)

Male life expectancy by LGD and county, 2002-2004

Female life expectancy by LGD and county, 2002-2004

Northern Ireland: Comparison of LGD with highest male life expectancy (Ballymoney) with LGD with

lowest male life expectancy (Belfast)

Northern Ireland: Comparison of LGD with highest female life expectancy (Ballymoney) with LGD with

lowest female life expectancy (Derry)

Comparing the most deprived LGD (Strabane)

with the least deprived LGD (North Down)

Future

Longer term interest in – an all-Ireland suite of local health

and wellbeing indicators – a basis of local health and

wellbeing profiles – links to comparative European

data

Discussion