Out With A Bang

Living next door to a newsagents does, occasionally, have its advantages.

Stumbling to get a couple of pints of milk first thing in the morning, you do see what’s on the billboard… what news was ‘breaking’ some 12 hours ago.

And in the case of this morning’s Eastern Daily Press, it was ‘news’ that Norfolk – and Suffolk – now have their very own ‘medical maps’.

And here’s said story… http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED30%20Jun%202009%2021%3A45%3A28%3A797

So, living in south Norfolk, I was duly heartened to discover that I can expect to live at least three years longer than a bloke living in Yarmouth.

‘Men in South Norfolk can expect to live three years longer than men in Yarmouth, with early deaths from heart disease and stroke causing most of the differences.

‘Even within the borough of Yarmouth, life expectancy varies by eight years for men between the most deprived and least deprived areas…’

What’s interesting is the level of detail that the ‘maps’ provide.

It’s almost as if someone in HM Government has had the foresight and imagination to mine for health data in each and every Norfolk postcode; cross refer them with hospital and surgery records and ‘Bingo!’, you’ve got a medical map of Norfolk laid out before you… complete with such details as the fact that…

‘… an estimated 100 people die from winter cold in Yarmouth each year – one of the worst rates in the country. It is the first time winter deaths have been included in the profile…. [and that] King’s Lynn and West Norfolk has one of the worst rates of infant mortality in the country…’

Where it all falls down, of course, is the fact that there doesn’t appear to be a live link between the newspaper article and the data as mined by the Association of Public Health Observatories.

But, bless them and the generosity of the UK tax-payer, the Association of Public Health Observatories does have its own website… here we go… http://www.apho.org.uk/

It makes for a very interesting read; albeit in a very data-led kind of way. Me? I prefer people to data, but on this occasion I’m intrigued… particularly to discover that the Eastern Region has its own website… only this one is ‘erpho’ and not ‘apho’ … http://www.erpho.org.uk/

And I can now drill down a little further and discover what’s going on out of my own GP practice… here in Loddon; in NR14.

http://www.erpho.org.uk/pracprof/

Actually, I can drill it down even further. I live on Church Plain… 100-yards from Church Plain Surgery… just round the corner from the newsagents.

Ah, scroll down… here we go… http://www.erpho.org.uk/pracprof/Profile.aspx?pct=5PQ&prac=D82006

Now I can mine the data by ‘disease area’…

OK, let’s try diabetes…

http://www.erpho.org.uk/pracprof/Profile.aspx?pct=5PQ&prac=D82006&theme=2000002#otherThemes

Not a f*cking clue, what that means. But I’m sure someone does.

And I’m sure that someone within ERPHO, APHO, AFRO, or whoever can look at that deep-mined data and tell someone with a digital advertising budget within the Dept of Health whether patients at Church Plain Surgery, Loddon, NR14 needed to be targetted with central Government ‘messaging’ re the dangers of diabetes…

… or whether we needed reminding about heart disease, liver complications, mental health issues.

Just as the people of King’s Lynn need education re infant mortality and the people of Yarmouth need to be told to wrap up warm this winter.

Cos Government can now do that; they know to the nearest postcode and the nearest doctors’ surgery what public health messaging they need to be delivering to the people in those communities.

All they need is a delivery mechanism that can put such highy-targetted messaging in front of the eye-balls that really matter. In NR14. Or, say, TS10.

And, in these straitened financial times, do that in the most cost-effective manner that they can find.

Mmmm….

I guess they could bid for the terms ‘diabetes’ and ‘Loddon’ and pay for You-Know-Who to spray it all over the place… or compete for the word ‘Yarmouth’ with every hotel and B&B in the place.

Or else, they run it through a strip of Addiply… and take the element of chance out of the equation. Place it in front of that community; place a postcard in the window of their ‘Post Office’ and digitally engage with the people of this country.

There’s the data; now deliver the message. Oh… and here’s the mechanism to do it…

And, you know what? Someone, somewhere in the very bowels of Whitehall could actually deliver something for a Digital Britain.

And in so doing, you could start to support every flegdling blog and ailing regional newspaper group in this country.

Only ever been a case of somehow joining the dots.

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