News

Health Profiles for every local authority in England were produced by the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO) for the first time in 2006. These profiles were a deliverable of the Choosing Health White Paper.

Health Profiles 2007 are a natural progression from the prototype in 2006. They continue in the four page format with improved and simplified graphics. Health Profiles 2007 have been developed following evaluation and feedback from previous users, including a consumer panel and technical experts in Public Health Observatories.

Click on the link to go to the profiles, the 2007 Local Authority Health Profiles will be available from Friday 22nd June.

A new public website 'Cancer e-Atlas' has been launched by the newly established National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) to improve public access to basic cancer statistics at Local Authority and Cancer Network level across England. It presents data on the incidence of, and mortality / survival from the main types of cancers in men and women.

The North West have launched a Big Drink Debate. It is your chance to join the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in the North West and have your say about the role alcohol plays in your life. The survey seeks the views of people from across the country, not just those in the North West. They survey aims to find out how you feel about your health, why you make certain lifestyle decision, and the issues you feel are important to you. The information will be used to help tackle any concerns raised.

Join the debate by clinkng on the link.

The NDTMS annual report summarises the data collected by the National Drug Treatment Monitoring Service (NDTMS) in the West Midlands region for the year ending on 31st March 2007.

The report summary includes;
• A total of 20,695 individuals living in the West Midlands region received treatment for drug misuse during the year;
• The proportion of residents in treatment varied between partnership areas with some urban areas showing more than double the rate of rural areas.
Nearly 30% of clients were resident in Birmingham;
• Most (94%) of the population in treatment were between the ages of 1 5 and 44. The ratio of men to women was 3 to 1;
• Heroin was the problem drug which caused 79% of clients to seek treatment. Over half of these reported at least one additional problem substance;
• Prescribing accounted for half of the treatment types received. Inpatient and residential treatment accounted for 3% of treatment.

Click on the link to view the full report

The National Library for Public Health is a specialist library of the National Library for Health. The National Library for Public Health is a replacement for the Public Health Electronic Library (PHeL). The new National Library for Public Health will contain resources in line with the objectives of the white papers Choosing Health: making healthy choices easier and Our health, our care, our say.

The National Library for Public Health improves access to the evidence-base for public health and population-based commissioning. The library will become a core resource for commissioners as set out in the Department of Health Commissioning Framework document. Although there are gaps in the evidence-base, it is important that high quality individual pieces of existing research and systematic reviews are easily available to public health practitioners, service commissioners and the public.

Summary data for the West Midlands PCTs is available to download as an excel spreadsheet by clicking on the link.

The population in the West Midlands is increasing, new population estimates suggest that the population of the West Midlands was 5,366,700 in mid 2006 and has now risen to 5,381,800 in mid 2007.

Mid 2007 population estimates are available at national level by single year of age and sex and sub-nationally (local authority/health area) by five year age group and sex. These include additional selected age groups and broad components of population change.