Work Area / Health Inequalities / Programme for Action

Programme for Action

YHPHO have produced a regional level analysis of progress against the national health inequalities targets. The analysis follows a similar approach to that used in the recent Programme for Action update produced by the Department of Health. It focuses on quantifying levels of health inequalities within the Yorkshire and Humber Region, and to what extent the scale of health inequalities has changed in recent years.

Background

In August 2005, the Department of Health published a report titled ´Tackling Health Inequalities: Status Report on the Programme for Action.´ The report reviewed progress towards the 2002 PSA target, which is:

by 2010 to reduce inequalities in health outcomes by 10% as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth.

It presented an analysis of recent national data and examined trends in inequalities in life expectancy, infant mortality and also the twelve headline indicators originally as set out in ´Tackling Health Inequalities: A Programme for Action´.

The analysis presented here uses a similar approach to provide a summary of progress on tackling health inequalities within Yorkshire and the Humber. Analysis is presented again for the key national measures, and each of the twelve supporting headline indicators. For each indicator we have measured inequalities based on a range of different comparators. These comprise:

Yorkshire & Humber Region vs England
Yorkshire & Humber most deprived quintile of PCT/LAs vs Yorkshire & Humber Region
Yorkshire & Humber Spearhead PCTs/LAs vs Yorkshire & Humber Region
Yorkshire & Humber ´worst´ rate quintile of PCTs/LAs vs Yorkshire & Humber Region

For each indicator (where available) the latest PCT/LA data is also presented, together with an analysis of change from baseline. In most instances analysis of inequalities trends are presented in both relative and absolute terms. This mirrors the approach taken in the national report, and enhances our understanding of health variations in the Region.

For further information, or to access supporting Excel files please contact YHPHO (yhpho-info@york.ac.uk).

Absolute and relative inequalities

The relative gap is the ratio of the indicator value in the ´disadvantaged´ group to the reference group (an alternative measure of the relative gap is the percentage difference between the two groups). Taking inequalities in health outcomes as an example, the relative gap measures how unequal the health experience between groups is, i.e. how much more likely someone from a disadvantaged group is to experience poor health (e.g. death from cancer) than, say, the national average.

The absolute gap is the difference between the indicator values for the disadvantaged group and the reference group. The absolute gap measures the impact of the unequal health experience in absolute terms, e.g. how many more cancer deaths (per 100,000 population) occur in the disadvantaged group than nationally as a result of the higher risk in the disadvantaged group.

Further information on the methods used is provided in the methodology section.

PSA Health inequalities targets

Overall PSA target: by 2010 to reduce inequalities in health outcomes by 10% as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth.

Life expectancy target: starting with local authorities, by 2010 to reduce by at least 10% the gap between the areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators (the spearhead group) and the population as a whole.

Infant mortality target: starting with children under one year, by 2010 to reduce the gap in mortality by at least 10% between 'routine and manual' groups and the population as a whole.

Analysis (click to download pdf file);

Methodology
Summary trend table
All targets and indicators

National health inequalities targets

Life expectancy at birth
Infant mortality

Programme for Action headline indicators

Additional Yorkshire & Humber Spearhead group vs England analysis

Summary table