Department of Health and Social Care
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2012 Local Health Profiles

The 2012 Local Health Profiles, produced by the Public Health Observatories of England working in partnership, were released on 26 June 2012, according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

The profiles draw together information to present a picture of health in each local area in a user-friendly format.  They are a valuable tool for local government and health services in helping them to understand their communities’ needs, so that they can work to improve people’s health and reduce health inequalities.

There is a four-page profile for each Local Authority in England, which includes:

• An ‘At a glance’ summary description of people’s health in the area, which includes information on locally identified priorities

• Maps and charts showing how the health of the area compares to the national view and information on health inequalities within the local authority

• Charts presenting changes in death rates over a 10 year period, compared to rates for England

• A ‘spine chart’ health summary showing the difference in health between the area and the England average for 32 indicators within five domains (Our communities, Children’s and young people’s health, Adults’ health and lifestyle, Diseases and poor health, and Life expectancy and causes of death)

The Health Profiles website also provides interactive maps and charts for users to create their own views of the data, and links to further supporting and relevant products.

The 2012 Local Health Profiles show that there are clear variations in health, both across the country and within individual local authorities.

Background notes

1. The 2012 Local Health Profiles and interactive tools are foundon their website. 

2. There are 351 Local Health Profiles – one for each Lower Tier, Upper Tier, Unitary and Metropolitan District Authority in England.

3. The Local Health Profiles are produced by the Public Health Observatories working in partnership, on behalf of the Department of Health.  The profiles have been updated annually since they were first produced in 2006. 

4. Key local organisations, including local councillors, officials in Local Government, emerging Clinical Commissioning Groups and the NHS will be notified that the 2012 profiles and interactive tools are available electronically.

5. The majority of information included in the profiles uses data already published separately, e.g. by the NHS Information Centre or ONS.  The Local Health Profiles are unique in drawing this information together to present a picture of health in each local area. 

 6. Full technical details of all indicators included in the Local Health Profiles, including data sources, are found on the Public Health Observatories website.


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