Analyzing the Community Health Profile of Croydon, United Kingdom

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the community health profile of Croydon, England, examining various population health indicators, demographic characteristics, measures of deprivation, determinants, and health status. The report utilizes data from Public Health England to assess key health needs within the community, including life expectancy, mortality rates, deprivation scores, smoking prevalence, and rates of violent crime, homelessness, and low-income families. It discusses the implications of these findings, emphasizing the importance of monitoring and surveillance in addressing community health challenges and applying theories such as Bradshaw’s taxonomy of need to identify and address health disparities. The report concludes by highlighting the need for targeted interventions to improve the overall health and well-being of Croydon's residents, considering factors such as declining life expectancy in males, increasing rates of certain diseases, and socioeconomic inequalities.

Assessing population
community of Croydon

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................1
COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE..............................................................................................2
IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS OF THE PROFILE..........................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Community health profile is a combination to various sets of data which represents the
information about health conditions in a community (Chami, Kabatereine and Tukahebwa,
2019). This type of health profile collectively discusses the health of people living in a
community. The main aim of this report is to summarise a community’s health profile. For this
purpose, the community which is selected is Croydon; this community is a town in England,
United Kingdom.
In this present report, various community health needs will be identified along with its
assessment. Short and long health profiles are discussed by analysing the population health
indicators, demographic characteristics and measures of deprivation, determinants and health
status of a community. In this report, community health and wellbeing data of Croydon
community is used which is procured from Public Health England Unitary authority.
BACKGROUND
Community health needs assessment is a regional health assessment which identifies the
key health issues which a community is facing and then needs to resolve those issues are
identified (Elliott and Scime, 2019). This assessment is a continuous procedure in which
systematic data is collected and then analysed. This assessment is based upon few principles
which are transparency, improvement, quality and engagement. The reason behind using this
assessment is to identify the health needs of the community and then develop plans by which
those needs can be fulfilled. This assessment is used to prioritise the needs and then grant funds
accordingly.
A community health profile is a document which accumulates all the information about a
community’s health including health needs, influential diseases and many more. This type of
profile reflects the health status of a community from different angels which even provides life
expectancy of an individual living in that community. As this profile have all the information
about a community’s health status. This document is used to identify the health needs and then
analyse them. The relationship between community health profile and needs assessment is
positive as when the health profile of a community change, their health neds also variates.
Monitoring is the process of regular and continuous observation of activities so that a
project can be assessed over its progress. This process refers to the supervising of actions in
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order to check whether they are completed as per planned, whether the activities are conducting
asper the schedule and whether the actions are conducted according to the status of quality which
was intended. It is a regular observation which allows an individual to continuously monitor
activities so that progress of the activities can be checked. On the other hand, the concept of
surveillance refers to the process in which behaviour of activities is monitored in order to check
the qualitative features of an information (Hernandez-Agreda, Leggat and Ainsworth, 2019).
The concept of surveillance is a part of monitoring which has wider scope. Both of these
concepts are related with community health needs assessment. It is important to effective assess
the health needs of a community and in this process, the process of monitoring and surveillance
is most appropriate. Using this processes, activities in the communities can be monitored and the
information which is gathered can then be checked in order to analyse the changing behaviour of
that information with the help of surveillance.
COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE
Population health indicators are the measures which help un monitoring the health status
of a community. These indicators act as tools which provides priorities about which health risk
are important to be considered (Nisar, Khan and Saleem, 2019). These indicators are the base of
strategic planning in which resources which will be used are identified along with benchmarks.
Broadly, there are four categories for population health indicators which are demographic,
deprivation, determinants and health status. There are few demographic health indicators which
are crude birth rate, death rate and fertility rate. Deprivation health indicators are those measures
by which a community has been deprived. These indicators are healthcare delivery rate,
homelessness rate etc. Basically, these measures are related with inequalities in a society. The
third class of population health indictors are determinants which are smoking habits, alcohol
consumption rate, education, family etc. Lastly, the fourth category of health indicators is health
status which are obesity, asthma, high blood pressure etc.
From the two main health profiles of Public Health England, Croydon which are short and
long profiles, various population health indicators are analysed. From the overall analysis of
these profiles it has been observed that people of Croydon are deprived from equal income status
due to which 16.1% children live in low income families. On the other hand, life expectancy of
both men and women in this area are higher than the people of rest of the England, these results
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are gained from average life expectancy in England (Community health profile of Croydon,
2019).
Demographic is the first most population health indicator. There are various demographic
characteristics including age, race, gender, ethnicity, income, education, health status and many
more (Singh, 2020). From the long and short profiles of Croydon community, it has been
observed that life expectancy at birth of males is significantly better for this community for all
the ages but this expectancy has been decreased from 2018 to 2019. The value of life expectancy
at birth for males is 80.7. Whereas, the value of life expectancy at birth for females is 84.5 which
has increased from 2018. Approximately, all the factors in demographic measure are
significantly better than the averages of England. The only factors which shows the health status
of Croydon community is not different from rest of the England are Mortality rate from all
cardiovascular diseases and suicide rate. From the short and long profiles of Croydon
community, it has been seen that value of mortality rate is 70.5 which has been decreased from
2018 and value of suicide rate is 8.11 which has been increased from 2018.
From the demographic characteristics, it can be analysed that overall health condition of the
people of this community is good but due to increasing diseases and stress, this health condition
is continuously decreasing.
Deprivation is the another category of population health indicator which refers to the
inequalities of the community. There are various inequalities which are mentioned in the long
and short profile of Croydon community. These measures are deprivation score and smoking
prevalence in adults. It is important to consider this category of population health indicator as it
provides the area which mentions how a community is inferior than other communities due to
inequalities in society. According to the long and short profile, it has been observed that the
value of deprivation score is 23.6. This rate is measured in the period of 2015 for all the ages. On
the other hand, smoking prevalence is another measure which has the value of 23.6. This value is
considered as not significantly different which means all the communities of England has this
issue of economic inequality. This value of smoking prevalence in adults in routine and manual
occupations has been increased from 2018.
Determinants of health is another measure of by which population health is indicated.
There are various indicators in this category which are education, family background,
neighbourhood and many more (Wicks, Wright and Wentzel-Viljoen, 2020). It is important to
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consider these indicators as these helps in analysing the impact of education and family upon the
health conditions of people. From the long and short public health profiles of Croydon
community, it has been observed that there are total of 5 health determinants which are used to
analyse the health of Croydon community. The most important health determinants which are
worth considering are violent crime, statutory homeless rate, employment rate and low income
families as all these indicators are significant worse and growing with increasing rate. The first
indicator us violent crime usually sexual violence, this indicator has the value of 46.2 which has
been decreased from 2018 but still is significantly word “red”. Next indicator is statutory
homelessness rate which is 0.98 in 2019 which reflects over 0.98% people of Croydon
community are homeless. Homeless people are the top priority of this community in order fulfil
their need of shelter. Another important indicator is people in employment which is 74.2 in 2019
which has bene increased from 2018. Last indicator which is significantly worse is percentage of
children in low income families. The value of this indicator is 18.8 which has been decreased
from the previous year.
Health status of the community is another indicator which includes diabetes diagnosis rate,
dementia diagnosis rate and many more. According to the long and short health profiles of
Croydon community, estimated diabetes diagnosis rate is 71.4 which significantly worse and has
been increasing to be worse. Another indicator is dementia diagnosis rate which represents the
value of 72.6 which is also increasing continuously year by year.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS OF THE PROFILE
Community health refers to medical specialty in which emphasis is laid on physical as well
as mental well-being of individuals within definite geographical region. This factor influences
each aspect like education, people capability for working, financial health and many other factors
(Braithwaite, Harrison and Shaffelburg, 2019). The lack of emphasis on community health can
lead wide range of problems which cannot be easily corrected. An unhealthy community tends to
struggle more due to chronic diseases along with other health issues. For this, it is crucial to
monitor community health profile which enables to analyse status of community from wide
range perspectives. In addition to this, it will also furnish with health requirements which can be
analysed to have affirmative outcomes.
There has to be process through which community health can be monitored along with
the progress which has been made within particular segment. This will assist in identifying what
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more is required to amplify the living conditions of those individuals in terms of health. This will
also aid within identification whether the procedures or quality of services was followed or
maintained by health professionals while delivering their services (Tobitt and Percival, 2019).
Furthermore, qualitative features has also to be analysed for an instance if particular vaccine is
given to a community then information about that has to be updated so that any kind of
misunderstanding is not created and same vaccine is not repeated which might lead to negative
impact. The priorities of health profile involve magnitude of problems which exist within
Croydon community, extent of problem and willingness to act on issue. These aspects has to be
prioritised so that effectual goals can be formulated through which health related problems can
be addressed.
By taking into consideration, short as well as long profiles of Croydon community, it has
been identified that life expectancy have been declined at birth of males in 2019. There is a
difference of around 4.5 among males and females. This illustrates better outcomes in Croydon
as compared to England. But the diversion lies in terms of mortality rate from suicide rate and
cardiovascular diseases (Robinson, 2019). The major disadvantage within Croydon community is
that there is enhanced rate of diseases due to stress and tension which leads to continuous decline
within health of individuals. There are different health theories which can be applied for having
better results. With respect to Croydon community, Bradshaw’s taxonomy of need have been
illustrated in below section.
Bradshaw’s taxonomy of need has provided methodology by which real needs can be
attained. As per them, it involved four major social needs that comprises of comparative,
expressed, felt and normative. They are being examined with respect to situations which prevail
at present scenario. In context of normative needs within Croydon community health
practitioners and professionals will compare existing with actual standards which have to be
attained. But if those standards are not met then there is a need for special support and services.
The other aspect is felt which is being equated with respect to what individuals are looking
forward for like within Croydon people want to have stress less life as this will automatically
minimise health problems. But if they ignore this aspect then they expectations may not be
accomplished (Ogbo and et. al, 2019). Professionals can look at the community profile as well as
ask individuals there requirements so that felt may be inflated.
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The third aspect is expressed which is considered equivalent to demand which are
unmet. It is often believed that people who possess less resources or education requires social
services but they hardly voice out their demands. There are often some reluctance while
expressing those needs. Comparative needs are being measured through reference to individuals
who have already attained these services (Khanlari and et. al, 2019). Thus, people make
comparison that whether same or worst characteristics are being possessed by them with respect
to other who is receiving services. In this, questions are being raised with respect to existent
services only.
Apart from this, population trends as well as transitions also create an impact on
community profile. As per demographics, there is a difference among life expectancy of different
genders. The term involves income, education, race, age and various other characteristics all
these create a significant influence on community profile. Along with this, epidemiological
transitions illustrate sudden as well as stark enhancement within population growth rate which is
brought in due to advanced innovations within health (Tobitt and Percival, 2019). Nutrition
transition illustrates dietary consumption as well as energy expenditures that are dependent on
demographics, epidemiological and economic changes which takes place within community.
CONCLUSION
From above, it can be concluded that community health implies field of public health
which is associated with study as well as improvisation within characteristics rendered by
biological communities. In this, emphasis is laid on geographical area instead of on particular
person or characteristics possessed by them. Here scrutiny is done in terms of medical as well as
clinical services where focus is on protection, maintenance as well as improvement of health
status of communities and groups (Braithwaite, Harrison and Shaffelburg, 2019). The major
limitation of this profile is that emphasis is not laid on an individual if symptoms of disease are
same like if two people have fever then it is not necessary that both have malaria or a viral. It
may vary so by taking fever as a symptom medications cannot be given but on the whole each
individual has to be given different care depending upon problems faced by them. There are
different health profiles short and long which have been illustrated on the basis of distinct
aspects they are, demographics, deprivation, health status and determinants. Through each
element relevant information can be attained about people of community. It has been identified
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that homeless people are prone to health issues and various kinds of deficiencies which leads to
enhancement within problems for community on the whole.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Braithwaite, J., Harrison, K. and Shaffelburg, S., 2019. Richmond Carers-Needs Assessment.
Chami, G.F., Kabatereine, N.B. and Tukahebwa, E.M., 2019. Profiling the best-performing
community medicine distributors for mass drug administration: a comprehensive, data-
driven analysis of treatment for schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and soil-
transmitted helminths in Uganda. BMC medicine. 17(1). p.69.
Elliott, C. and Scime, N.V., 2019. Nutrient profiling and child-targeted supermarket foods:
Assessing a “made in Canada” policy approach. International journal of environmental
research and public health. 16(4). p.639.
Hernandez-Agreda, A., Leggat, W. and Ainsworth, T.D., 2019. A place for taxonomic profiling
in the study of the coral prokaryotic microbiome. FEMS microbiology letters. 366(6).
p.fnz063.
Khanlari, S. and et. al, 2019. Re-examination of perinatal mental health policy frameworks for
women signalling distress on the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) completed
during their antenatal booking-in consultation: a call for population health
intervention. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 19(1), p.221.
Nisar, A., Khan, S.M.S. and Saleem, S.M., 2019. Community health profiling and accessibility
of health care services at subcentre Abedal, central Kashmir. Indian Journal of Forensic
and Community Medicine. 6(1). pp.40-44.
Ogbo, F.A. and et. al, 2019. Perinatal distress and depression in culturally and linguistically
diverse (CALD) Australian women: the role of psychosocial and obstetric
factors. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(16),
p.2945.
Robinson, K., 2019. Everyday multiculturalism in the public library: taking knitting together
seriously. Sociology.
Singh, B., 2020. Profiling Public Healthcare: A Comparative Analysis Based on the
Multidimensional Healthcare Management and Legal Approach. Indian Journal of
Health & Medical Law. 2(2).
Tobitt, S. and Percival, R., 2019. Switched on or switched off? A survey of mobile, computer
and Internet use in a community mental health rehabilitation sample. Journal of Mental
Health, 28(1), pp.4-10.
Wicks, M., Wright, H. and Wentzel-Viljoen, E., 2020. Assessing the construct validity of
nutrient profiling models for restricting the marketing of foods to children in South
Africa. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. pp.1-8.
Online
Community health profile of Croydon. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/static-reports/health-profiles/2019/e09000008.html?area-
name=croydon>
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