To achieve the best possible health outcomes and make the hard spending decisions, local partnerships need to be working with evidence that is accessible, relevant, and gives a true picture of their population. They also need expertise and training in how to use the evidence.
The Informing Healthier Choices (IHC) programme brought leading public health organisations together to respond to these needs. After five years of work, and a significant investment by the Department of Health, the result is a range of successful knowledge products, training and other resources. Some highlights are:
- Health Profiles for England give local authorities a concise, comparable and balanced overview of the health of their local population. With a 'traffic light' spine chart, they are helping local commissioners to see clearly where the real challenges lie. www.healthprofiles.org.uk
- Disease Prevalence Models enable PCT's to assess need more accurately, plan services and decide where to invest in prevention, case finding, early detection and treatment of diseases such as Cardiovascular Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease (CHD), Hypertension and Stroke. An evaluation carried out by the York Health Economics Consortium found that of 104 PCT's in the sample, 75 were already using the models. www.apho.org.uk/diseaseprevalencemodels
- A range of accessible, easy-to-use, free online training is enabling commissioners to make ethical decisions, and target their plans and strategies at the area most needing improvement. All the training can be accessed at www.healthknowledge.org.uk.
- A new career framework for public health specialists. Model personal specifications and job descriptions for Information and Intelligence staff, and proposals around salary scales were developed. You can link to these through www.phru.nhs.uk / www.fph.org.uk/information_and_intelligence_staff.
- The National Library of Public Health, a fantastic public health evidence base, with up-to-date guidelines, strategies, policies and systematic reviews. It is now part of NHS Evidence. www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth
The initial plan proposed a public health web portal, but an assessment showed this was neither feasible nor desirable. Instead, IHC has been working with the NHS Information Centre to deliver a portal for public health professionals through MyIC. www.ic.nhs.uk/myic
Health Impact Assessment is a requirement for all new government policies, so that better health and wellbeing stand alongside other objectives. IHC has developed a framework that makes HIA easy-to-do, focused and evidence based. It will be available soon through the Department of Health website. An extensive evidence base for HIA is at the HIA Gateway. www.hiagateway.org.uk
A series of regional events brought together users and providers of health intelligence. They discussed what population health knowledge they value, and what is still needed. The final event of IHC was the PH Futures Colloquium which brought together more than 230 public health trainees from every discipline to discuss with national leaders in public health. They took part in presentations, networked and learned about IHC products.
IHC was a true collaboration, with a Steering Group including Primary Care Trusts, the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO), the Faculty of Public Health and the NHS Information Centre. APHO was the key delivery partner for knowledge products, and HealthKnowledge for the training modules. The programme was managed by PHAST.
Summing up, Programme Director Sir Muir Gray said: 'At the end of the IHC project we can chow significant progress in delivering better health intelligence. Most important, IHC's achievements result fro effective partnership working.'
