Undertaking a Health Need Assessment for Shropshire: Identifying and Prioritizing Health Needs of the Adult Population

Human life journey

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................3
STEP – 1: GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF SHROPSHIRE.............................................................................3
Population characteristics..................................................................................................................3
The health status of the population ..................................................................................................4
Local factors affecting the health of the population .......................................................................5
STEP – 2: DETERMINING & JUSTIFYING TARGET POPULATION .............................................................5
Target population .............................................................................................................................5
STEP – 3: IDENTIFYING & JUSTIFYING THREE HEALTH NEEDS AND PRIORITIZING ONE.........................7
Three health needs............................................................................................................................7
Prioritizing one need .........................................................................................................................9
STEP – 4: HEALTH PROMOTION INITIATIVE ..........................................................................................9
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Health need assessment is being regarded as a systematic approach which
unswervingly focusses on specified health needs of a given population. Considering this, the
current research project emphasize on undertaking a health need assessment for a local
geographical area. The area which will be studies in this research report is Shropshire which
is in England, UK. Further, the current project will throw light on geographical profile of this
area and will going toe explore different factors that might impact the health of the
population of Shropshire. Additionally, target population will be identified and three
important needs of that population will be evaluated. The final section of the report will
include health promotion initiative utilizing a community-centred approach to improve the
health of the target population.
STEP – 1: GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF SHROPSHIRE
Shropshire is also being known as Salop, topographical as well as famous nation plus
unitary authority of western England which is the neighbouring country on Wales. Speaking
in relation with the geographical profile of Shropshire, it is a combination of mountain as
well as plain and includes a different flow as well as scenery of river. The whole nation is
being served as a catchment basis. Further, from pre-Camorian to Lias, the city is being
extended of its stratified rocks (Watts, 2019). The region is also popular for yielding coal
metal, clays and building stones and because of this region, the area catches the attention of
many geologists as well. It also have very beautiful forests, rocky uplands as well as meres
which also supports assortments of birds.
Population characteristics
The census population of Shropshire was 317, 5005 in the year 2021 and it generally
comprise equal number of males as well as females. The average age of people in the area is
43 however the median age is more than 44. Further, around 87 percent of the people living
in this area was born in England. An alteration in the population of Shropshire can be seen in
last few years and it is also assumed that the population size will going to augment by around
8 percent by the end of the year 2032. As a result, the whole structure of the population will
going to change. Additionally, the proportion of population aged 65 and more is increasing at
a faster pace (Shropshire Census Demographics United Kingdom, 2021). Nevertheless, when
it is compared with some of the small area, it is relatively deprived. On the other hand, the
rate of under 25 year olds is quite lower when compared with the average. From the total
3

resident population of the county, 65 percent are living in the main centres as well as market
towns and 35 percent are living in the countryside plus small settlements. Further, around 97
percent of the population living in Shropshire speaks in English, nonetheless the other top
languages used by the population are Polish, Welsh, Bulgarian, Chinese, Tagalog, German,
French and Slovak. Talking about the religious makeup of the population of that area, there
are around 68 percent Christians and 22 percent have no religion. Some of the percentage of
population follows Hindu, Sikh, Agnostic, Muslims and Buddhist
The health status of the population
Due to the changing demographics and increasing ageing population in Shropshire,
there has been augmentation in isolated as well as vulnerable older people within the societies
of the nation. Many studies being conducted by National study and historic data reflects that
older population in the area is more at risk related to fire concerning deaths. In addition to
this, the health of people in this area is very diverse in comparison with the average of
England (Population, 2022). Around 12 percent of children are living in low income families.
Further, there has been increase in the life expectancy for both men and women throughout
the period 2000 to 2019. The age of men has also been amplified from 81.3 years to 84.2
years. On the other hand for women it has been augmented from 84.5 years to 86.8 years of
age (Public health England, 2018). The life expectancy for males is relatively more when
compared with the average life expectancy of males of England. Moreover, the main public
health problems in Shropshire are cardiovascular, respiratory and musculoskeletal disease.
Likewise, around twenty three thousand people in this area are suffering from type 2 diabetes
and almost thirty one thousand are projected to have pre-diabetes. There are changeable risk
factors of the population involves high blood pressure, obesity, excess alcohol consumption,
high cholesterol levels and physical inactivity. Besides, there has been rise in the amount of
people suffering from dementia in Shropshire and is anticipated to increase in future as well.
Older population who cannot manage to perform one activity on their own is also estimated
to rise by sixty three percent. Furthermore, most of the elderly people in the area is facing
long term health problems and disabilities (THE SHROPSHIRE STATISTICS, 2016). Since,
there has been increase in the elderly population in this area along with their increased health
issues related to dementia, it can be said that there will be more mobility problems and levels
of disability among the population.
4