Understanding Local Health and Wellbeing
Cordelia Canning
Charlotte Clark
This blog provides an overview of the Health and Wellbeing indicators included in the recently published Health and Wellbeing Dashboard
‘Health and wellbeing’ is a term we hear a lot at the moment but what do we think of when we think about health and wellbeing? We are likely to think of diseases and illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and depression, but would you also think of life satisfaction or happiness as health outcomes? It is important to realise that there is more to health than illnesses and healthcare provision, with the World Health Organization providing the following definition:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.” [1]
Just as health has a broad definition, there are many factors that combine to influence the health of individuals and communities which are collectively referred to as ‘health determinants’. For example, the conditions in which people live, the physical environment and individual lifestyle factors all contribute to an individual’s health and wellbeing. Examples of health determinants include income; access to education and employment; social support and relationships; housing; quality of the built environment; safety; transportation; access to greenspace; noise; air quality; physical activity; diet; alcohol and smoking. In short, the places where people live have a significant influence on their mental and physical health. Towns therefore have a vital role to play in helping to shape and support a healthy and happy population. To do so requires impactful action but before this can even begin is it essential to have a robust understanding of the current health and wellbeing of the population.
The purpose of this accompanying dashboard is therefore to help with this process by providing a snapshot view on existing health and wellbeing levels in your Town and surrounding area. This will help to ensure that interventions are most appropriate to the local situation and can directly tackle existing issues. The lack of timely health and wellbeing data published at a local level makes it particular challenged to get a precise view for each Town, which is why the majority of measures included in the tool are only available at the local authority level. However, local authority level data is still very valuable for showing health and wellbeing conditions in the surrounding area.
Poor performance on some of these key metrics could help flag to towns where initiatives could be focused. For example, a town that currently has high levels of obesity and low sports participation may want to shape the built environment so that healthy activities and experiences become integral to people's everyday lives – an approach coined by the Design Council as ‘health place-shaping’. This may include the incorporation of active travel routes, conservation and increased access to greenspace for recreation purposes and increased lighting to make public spaces feel safer. Changes such as these are often multifaceted - cutting across environmental, physical and social realms. Alternatively, interventions that promote labour market inclusion by helping people enter or remain in good quality jobs can also enhance people’s health[2].
[1] World Health Organization Constitution of the World Health Organization Basic Documents, 45th edition supplement; 1948.
[2] Naik Y, Abbs I, Elwell-Sutton T, Bibby J, Spencelayh E, Shafique A, Burbidge I, Antink B, Alanko L, Anttila J. Using economic development to improve health and reduce health inequalities . Health Foundation; 2020