Health Poverty Index
Overview
There are a wide range of factors that determine the health status of a population and which may give rise to health inequalities. Many of these health determinants arise outside the direct influence of health and social care in areas such as education, the environment, housing, employment etc.
The Health Poverty Index (HPI) is a web based tool covering all local authority districts in England. It allows geographical areas and different ethnic groups to be compared in terms of their ‘health poverty’. It provides a single, high level, visual summary of an area’s status in terms of health poverty drawing on over 60 indicators of health and its wider determinants.
The HPI was developed to underpin work on reducing inequalities by informing policy development, service planning and resource allocation. Rather than being a tool for monitoring inequalities and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, the HPI has been developed as an essential summary at the start of the decision-making process as part of assessing needs and facilitating discussing within local partnerships on local priorities.`
Currently, users are able to select and compare an area against England, similar areas in terms of ONS family classification, or another local authority. It is also possible for HPI users to compare areas against the Spearhead Group of local authority areas. A Health Poverty Index workbook has also been developed which guides the user through some of the features of the tool and demonstrates how the tool can be used.
The HPI project is a joint project between SEPHO and the School of Geography and Geosciences at the University of St. Andrews and is managed by NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care.
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Key Resources
Tools and methods - Health poverty index - Regional key resources
Tools and methods - Health poverty index - National key resources
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For further information please contact the HPI team at info@hpi.org.uk
Last review Nov 2009.