Lichfield District Council, the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (SST ICB) and data analytics company Impera Analytics have set up a collaboration to provide anonymised health data for the area’s local wellbeing index.
They said the move is aimed improving community wellbeing and strategic decision making.
It will involve adding health data to Lichfield’s Social Progress Index (SPI), which has been developed with Impera Analytics to bring together local data sources on issues such as homelessness, education and crime to assess the quality of life at local ward level.
The council’s chief executive, Simon Fletcher, said: “Over the past two years we have been at the forefront of using data and digital services to understand and meet the needs of our community efficiently. By integrating NHS data into our SPI we are setting a new benchmark for informed, targeted local government.
Council leader Cllr Doug Pullen added: “This exciting use of NHS health data will complement the resources we have using to make decisions for the benefit of people across the district. Our dynamic approach to collating and sharing high quality data in the council and beyond helps us understand what our residents really need depending on where they specifically live.”
Plan for expansion
SST ICB plans to apply the SPI model to all 167 local government wards in its region.
Its deputy chief medical officer, Dr Lorna Clarson, commented: “We’ve been impressed by Lichfield’s approach to population health management using the SPI model. The approach used to share data across both multiple departments as well as across the county illustrates a genuine desire to plan public services in an integrated fashion.
“The ICB will further approach this regionally and will expand this tool to cover all 167 wards across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trend. Critically we will also share population health outcome information to our local government partners, so collectively we can take a social determinants and prevention approach to healthcare.”
Lichfield Council has already used data analytics in initiatives including its Together We District 2050 plan, which includes investments to boost health and wellness.
Determinant of health
Pye Nyunt, chief executive of Impera Analytics, said: “Across the region we know that socio-economic factors are a determining factor of health, and whilst healthcare is serviced by our wonderful NHS, bringing together information sources across the country enables not only policy makers, but also the community itself to find solutions to health inequality and improvement wellness.
“Information itself is a determinant.”
