‘Longer Lives’ launched

Public Health England has launched a new website showing great variation in early death rates across the country.

The website, called ‘Longer Lives’, is a new initiative to allow people to see how their local area performs with regards to mortality rates, compared to the rest of the country.

The data shows a large disparity in mortality rates relating to cancer, heart disease and stroke, lung disease and liver disease.

Commenting on the figures and the website launch, health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted local areas to use the data to identify challenges around improving public health and take action to improve early mortality rates.

The figures show that the North of England has a higher risk of early death overall than the South, but the data also compares socio-economic factors, to provide a more complex picture.

Longer Lives also lets local authorities compare their ranking with areas similar to theirs, and includes examples of best practice to help local areas understand how they compare to the rest of the country and how to improve.

The figures are displayed using an interactive map in a traffic light ranking system. Areas with above average performance in tackling avoidable deaths are green, while those that are lagging behind and need to do more are red.

Professor John Newton, chief knowledge officer at Public Health England, hoped the website would support local government in coping with changes in the NHS and providing good healthcare.

“Longer Lives is an initiative presenting a clear picture of health in local areas – where it is good and bad – so everyone involved can consider and agree how to make improvements from a common basis of knowledge,” he said.

“The data is provided alongside evidence of what needs to be done as well as case studies and will increase in scope and richness.”

Public Health England is responding to feedback from health professionals and users on the site and will continue to add new data.

The website also includes guidance from NICE, as well as links to information about each cause of mortality from NHS Choices.

The figures provided on the website come from the Public Health Outcomes Framework.