A picture of English health, prepared for each local council in England, is being published by health minister Caroline Flint today (Friday 22 June 2007).
The health profiles provide information on a range of issues, including life expectancy and smoking. They are designed to help local councils and the NHS decide where to target resources to tackle health inequalities in their local area.
The profiles show that health is improving but there continues to be a wide variation in results, even in the healthiest areas.
For example, the profiles show:
- Chiltern has the lowest number of deaths from smoking with 147 people per 100,000, but this still means that 113 people in Chiltern each year die from smoking.
- Deaths from cancer continue to fall for those under 75. The local authority with the smallest numbers dying from cancer is Kensington and Chelsea with 81 deaths per 100,000 people.
- St Albans has 85 per 100,000 people admitted to hospital with alcohol-related problems – the fewest in the country.
Caroline Flint, pictured, said: “Information about health and wellbeing in your local area is essential for assessing the needs of the local population and monitoring how well health improvement strategies are working.”
Launched last year, the profiles are sent to every local councillor, Strategic Health Authority, PCT and MP as well as being available on the web.
The health profiles can be viewed at: http://www.communityhealthprofiles.info/profiles/hp2007/index.php
