New health
inequalities tool allows local NHS to focus their resources
A new internet application, which will allow local trusts to
monitor and respond to trends in infant mortality and life
expectancy to tackle health inequalities, was launched today by
Public Health Minister, Gillian Merron.
Gillian Merron was speaking at the ‘Marmot and The Third Sector’
conference which was an opportunity for delegates to respond to
the Marmot review - entitled ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’
- which identified key areas for future action in health inequalities.
The event aims to raise awareness among the Third Sector of the
health inequalities challenge and provide a forum to develop
understanding of their role in addressing health inequalities and
how the Marmot Report can support their work.
The improved version of the Health Inequalities Intervention
Toolkit is an online resource which draws together key data and
modelling on health indicators. The toolkit enables those areas
with the worst health and deprivation – the Spearhead areas - to
achieve both the life expectancy and infant mortality objectives
within the national health inequalities target.
The newly announced infant mortality tool will allow the NHS and
partners to see the risk factors that are driving their infant
mortality rates and help them to plan how best to reduce them.
In addition, the toolkit allows Spearhead areas to see what
factors are driving low life expectancy in their area and
identifies the action needed to address this:
· helping people who want to give up smoking
· treating
people with high blood pressure, or high cholesterol in people
without diagnosed cardiovascular disease.
· reducing infant
mortality
· controlling high blood sugar
Speaking at the conference Gillian Merron said:
“Life expectancy is the highest it has ever been and infant
mortality is at an all time low, but more needs to be done to
narrow the gap between Spearhead areas and the rest of England.
“Everybody should have an equal chance at good health and that is
why the Government is working across the community and the Third
Sector to address the wider causes of health inequalities.
“To further support local areas, we are launching a revised,
updated and improved version of the Health Inequalities
Intervention Toolkit, developed in partnership with the
Association of Public Health Observatories.“
Notes to Editors
1. The Marmot and The Third Sector event is being organised by
the Department of Health’s Third Sector Strategic Partners, a
wide-ranging group of third sector organisations who are funded to
work with the Department and strengthen links between it and the
sector.
2. The Third Sector Strategic Partner Programme aims to enable
third sector organisations to work in partnership with the
Department of Health and the NHS / Social Care to help shape and
deliver policies and programmes, for the benefit of the sector as
a whole and ultimately contribute to improved health and
well-being outcomes for individuals and communities. More
information about the Strategic Partner Programme can be found at
www.dh.gov.uk/strategicpartners
3. The Health Inequalities Intervention Toolkit was developed by
the Association of Public Health Observatories and Department of
Health and contains tools to support planning to achieve both
objectives within the national health inequalities target. This
includes tools on Life expectancy, infant mortality and
commissioning interventions. The Toolkit is available at http://www.lho.org.uk/LHO_Topics/Analytic_Tools/HealthInequalitiesInterventionToolkit.aspx
4. Today the Public Health Observatories (PHOs) will mark their
10th anniversary with a joint one-day conference with the
Department of Health where the keynote address will be delivered
by the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.
5. The national health inequalities Public Service Agreement
target is to:
"Reduce health inequalities by 10% by 2010 as measured
by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth."
Tackling health inequalities and achieving the Public Service
Agreement target remains a key priority for the NHS as set out in
the NHS Operating Framework 2010-11, and for local authorities as
part of Local Area Agreements.
6. For more information, please contact the Department of Health
Press Office on: 020 7210 5221.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk