Socio-demographic data sources for monitoring locality health profiles and geographical planning of primary health care in the UK

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide UK-based primary health care research and development workers with a review of the current range of published, aggregated sociodemographic indicators that can be combined with health and health care datasets, for the purposes of monitoring locality health profiles and planning primary health care. Non-UK readers should nevertheless find the review of some relevance to their own national contexts. Background: There is an increasing range of resources available for such purposes and many of these datasets are equally useful outside of geographic work. The 2001 census introduced important changes to what routine data are available, as will the 2011 census. These changes have been paralleled by developments in the availability of socio-demographic indicators and the increasing popularity of geographic information systems. Health data can now be combined with those from socio-demographic more efficiently to produce what are termed value-added datasets. Methods: We review recent and planned developments in key data sources currently available in the UK and examine they can be used to monitor inequalities in primary health care inequalities and their role in the integration of primary health care needs mapping and forecasting with the spatial planning of areas undergoing regeneration. Conclusions: Recent and planned developments in the availability of both socio-demographic datasets in tandem with parallel developments in spatial technologies have provided a flexible, potent geographical methodology for primary health care research and development. The current consultation process for the 2011 census provides those involved with primary health care research and development an opportunity to influence future developments.

Child-to-adult body size change and risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

“…Education was defined by the highest qualification achieved, converted into the International Standard Classification for Education (ISCED) (ESM Table 1 ). The Townsend deprivation index was calculated based on preceding national census output areas, with higher scores representing more socioeconomic deprivation [ 21 ].…”

Local and Application-Specific Geodemographics for Data-Led Urban Decision Making

“…This is often used to develop and map rich profiles of populations which show spatial patterns and public phenomena, for example, developing profiles of health behaviours and associated outcomes to provide intelligence in decision making processes. The second uses the classification as a metric in subsequent analysis that is aimed at illustrating and understanding the propensities for different social phenomena across geographies and to identify areas of the greatest need [23], for example, in spatial analysis of crime [19,28], poor health outcomes or disease risk [29][30][31][32], public transport use [33], road traffic collisions [34], participation in Higher Education and educational attainment [23,27], fire safety [35], and the use of public sector services [23,36].…”

Methods and tools for geographical mapping and analysis in primary health care

“…Much of the mainstreaming of health geography has been due to advances in geographic information systems (GIS) methods and technologies, and an associated range of geographically referenced (georeferenced) health and sociodemographic datasets (Samarasundera et al, 2010a). These trends have also resulted in the growth of interactive, internet-based health and healthcare atlases, as well as software tailored to health services applications, making mapping available to a wider healthcare audience.…”

“…Geographical mapping and analysis of health and healthcare are well-established facets of epidemiological and health services analyses (Joseph and Phillips, 1984; Meade and Earickson, 2005: 381–400), with many studies specifically examining primary health care (PHC; eg, Guagliardo, 2004; Luo, 2004; Wang and Luo, 2005; Ricketts and Holmes, 2007; Busato and Kunzi, 2008). Much of the mainstreaming of health geography has been due to advances in geographic information systems (GIS) methods and technologies, and an associated range of geographically referenced (georeferenced) health and sociodemographic datasets (Samarasundera et al , 2010a). These trends have also resulted in the growth of interactive, internet-based health and healthcare atlases, as well as software tailored to health services applications, making mapping available to a wider healthcare audience.…”

“…The increasing application of GIS in PHC is part of this trend. However, making effective use of georeferenced datasets (Samarasundera et al , 2010a) in GIS software and e-health atlases requires an understanding of geographic concepts (Crooks and Andrews, 2009) as well as a managerial understanding of the purposes, scope and limitations of mapping and analysis methods. This review examines spatial mapping and analysis methods and tools for population-level management of PHC and health intelligence purposes, and also discusses the key institutional and implementation issues relevant to effective deployment of such methods and technologies.…”