Neighbourhood Statistics, Model-based estimates of healthy lifestyle behaviours at PCO level - 2003-05

• just under one in five Primary Care Organisations (PCOs) were estimated to have a significantly higher current smoking rate than England as a whole, and one in five PCOs have a significantly lower smoking rate than England as a whole
• almost one in three PCOs were estimated to have a significantly higher binge drinking rate than England as a whole, and over one in three PCOs were estimated to have a significantly lower binge drinking rate than England as a whole
• one in four PCOs have an obesity rate significantly higher than England as a whole, and just below one in four PCOs were estimated to have a significantly lower obesity rate than England as a whole
• just over one in five PCOs were estimated to have a significantly higher fruit and vegetable consumption rate than England as a whole, and just below one in three PCOs were estimated to have a significantly lower fruit and vegetable consumption rate than England as a whole
• respondents from the Black African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese minority ethnic groups were less likely to be current smokers than England as a whole, whereas Irish respondents were more likely to be current smokers
• respondents from all minority ethnic groups, with the exception of Irish informants, were less likely to indulge in binge drinking than England as a whole
• respondents from the Black Caribbean and Black African were more likely to be obese than England as a whole. Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese respondents were less likely to be obese
• respondents from all minority ethnic groups, with the exception of Bangladeshi informants, were more likely to consume five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day than England as a whole.

What do the figures tell us about policy objectives / targets being met?

There are a wide range of uses for the data - some of the key PSA targets relate to healthy lifestyle behaviours such as child obesity and smoking along with tackling 'avoidable deaths' and the estimates will help to examine those targets. The estimates can also be used to inform local targeting of health improvement resources, to inform local strategic partnership planning the potential end users e.g. local strategic partners, NHS planners, PHOs. The NHS Priorities and Planning Framework 2003-2006 (PPF) sets out what local organisations need to plan for to meet the Department's PSA targets. Local targets should include the national PSA targets as a minimum, and draw selected targets from a basket of local indicators to address the specific health priorities in the local community.

More recently, the release of the DH Informing Healthier Choices: Information and Intelligence for Healthy Populations strategy (May 2007) sets out a vision to support the implementation of the Public Health White Paper Choosing Health and Our Health, our care, our say. The aim of this strategy is to improve the availability, timeliness and quality of health information and intelligence across England and to increase its use to support population health improvement, commissioning of services for health and well-being, and health protection. In addition to the public health priorities of the Department of Health, these model-based estimates also feed into the Health Profile for England, which was commissioned by the Department of Health's Public Health Information and Intelligence Task Force and produced by the Association of Public Health Observatories.

Thus, for both the Neighbourhood Statistics programme and the local delivery of the PPF targets, there is a growing need for local information relevant to the national targets and headline indicators. These underpin a variety of decision-support and health intelligence functions including local needs assessment and resource allocation; equity audits; benchmarking and fair comparisons between areas.