Public Health Intelligence

This is the portal page for Public Health Intelligence in Sandwell Trends. The area includes at the moment this portal page,  the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) , the Health Profiles  and the Director of Public Health Reports pages.

The Children Health Outcomes page is part of the Children and Young People suite of pages.

Further pages on the Public Health Outcomes Framework and its indicators are currently being developed.

For more information on the content of these pages, please contact Ralph Smith on 0845 3527690.

General health has improved in Sandwell since the 2001 census.

• 14.1% more people reported their health as good compared to the 2001 census.
• 10,014 fewer Sandwell residents reported their health as not good in 2011 compared to 2001 despite the population increasing by more than 25,000 people.
• The populations perception of health has improved across the whole of England and Wales compared to 2001, however Sandwell's populations perception of health has increased greater than the England and Wales average.

A smaller percentage of the population are having their level of activity limited by a long term health problem or disability than in 2001.

• 20.9% of the population have their level of activity limited by a long term health problem or disability. This is an improvement of 0.8% compared to the 2001 census.
• The proportion of residents in England and Wales whose activities are limited by a long term illness or disability has also declined compared to 2001.
• The percentage of Sandwell's population who activities are limited by a long term condition or disability is decreasing faster than the national average.

The percentage of people providing unpaid care in Sandwell and in England & Wales has increased since the 2001 census.

• A greater proportion of people in Sandwell provide care in Sandwell than in England in Wales, 12.2% in Sandwell compared to 11.54% in England and Wales.
• People in Sandwell provide more hours of unpaid care than the average in England and Wales.
• The total amount of unpaid care is rising at a similar level in Sandwell to the rest of the country, 1.58% for Sandwell compared to 1.51% for England and Wales.

The Role of Public Health Intelligence

Health Intelligence is a core function of the local Public Health teams.

Public Health is concerned with the wider determinants of health - the behavioural or environmental factors that affect people's health. Key areas of concern, as outlined in the Government's White Paper, Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier, are:

• Smoking
• Obesity
• Physical exercise
• Sexual health
• Alcohol
• Mental health
• Health inequalities

The role of the Public Health Intelligence Teams (PHIT) is to support local bodies by:

• monitoring health and disease trends and highlighting areas for action
• identifying gaps in health information
• advising on methods for health and health inequality impact assessment
• drawing together information from different sources in new ways to improve health
• carrying out projects to highlight particular health issues
• evaluating progress by local agencies on improving health and cutting inequality
• looking ahead to give early warning of future public health problems

Health Inequalities: Marmot review and indicators for Sandwell

The Marmot independent review, Fair Society, Healthy Lives, was published in February 2010. The report included some suggested indicators to support monitoring of the overall strategic direction in reducing health inequalities.

Marmot Review: Fair Society, Healthy Lives

The indicators were updated in February 2012. You can download the latest reports for Sandwell below:

"Two Years On" Data - Marmot Indicators at February 2012

Marmot indicators for local authorities in England: Sandwell (2012)

Full press release on "Two Years On" Marmot Indicators (2012)

Maps displaying Marmot Indicators (at-a-glance comparisons between local authorities)

LGIU briefing on Marmot Review: Two years on (please note you need to register to see the full briefing).

Public Health Profiles for Sandwell

Below you can download the overaching health profile indicators for Sandwell.

Sandwell Health Profile

To access more health profiles, please visit the Health Profiles page.

Health Improvement Reports for Sandwell PCT

See the latest (Q3 2011-12) report from the West Midlands Public Health Observatory. Click here to download or here to be directed to the page.

The transition of Public Health to Local Authority

Healthy Lives Healthy People: our strategy for public health in England , set out the government’s vision for a new, integrated and professional public health system, with new responsibilities and resources for local government to improve the health and wellbeing of their population, within a broad policy framework set by the Government focussing on determinants of health and health inequalities. 

From 2013, public health responsibilities currently undertaken by the PCT will be divided between Public Health England (PHE) and the local authority. The Directors of Public Health  will be jointly appointed by the council and PHE.

 To know more about this process, please visit the dedicated page on Sandwell Trends below:

 Transfer of Public Health Services

Or read the briefing from the Local Government Association (LGA):

LGA briefing on the Public Health White Paper

Documents on Public Health Transition

Department of Health "factsheets"

The new public health system: summary

 Public health in local government

 Public Health England's operating model

 Public health transfer of staff from PCTs to local authorities

Transforming Public Health Bulletins

Latest Transforming Public Health Bulletin (Issue 6: February 2012)

LGA Transition Guidance

Public health transition planning support for primary care trusts and local authorities

Local government transition guidance on public health workforce issues

External Websites

For more information on Marmot Review:

UCL Institute of Health Equalities

For more information on the changes to Public Health and NHS:

Department of Health: Modernisation of health and care

Public Health Outcomes Framework 2013-2016

Healthy lives, healthy people: improving outcomes and supporting transparency

The new public health outcomes framework published on 24th January 2012, sets out the desired outcomes for public health and how these will be measured. The framework concentrates on two high-level outcomes to be achieved across the public health system. These are:

• increased healthy life expectancy
• reduced differences in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between communities

You can download the full related documents below

Part 1: A public health outcomes framework for England 2013-2016

Part 2: Summary technical specifications of public health indicators

Public Health Outcomes Framework summary factsheet

Impact Assessment Public Health Outcomes Framework

Equality Analysis Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Transparency in Outcomes

express briefing @ 8, 25 January 2012

Improving the Health of Sandwell

Health Inequalities can be defined as the "avoidable differences in health, wellbeing and lenght of life". The Marmot review Fair Society, Healthy Lives showed that these inequalities in health are still prevalent in our society and are associated with deprivation.

This report is particularly pertinent to Sandwell, the 12th most deprived local authority in England. For instance, life expectancy in Sandwell is 3.4 years less for men and 1.6 years less for women than in England.

Another measure of the health of a population is the disability free life expectancy, how long people can expect to live without a long term illness or disability. For Sandwell this shows that as well as not living as long as in the rest of England, people in Sandwell tend to spend more of their lives ill and with a disability.

To know more about health in Sandwell, please visit the dedicated Health pages in Sandwell Trends.

To know more about express briefings, please click here.