By Natasha Morris, Team Leader for Intelligence at Public Health Dorset  

The Census provides a key source of information on a variety of topics, and it helps us understand more about the make-up of and issues that affect our national and local population. In public health, the Census gives us valuable insight into the health and wellbeing of residents, alongside other issues that have an impact on health like housing, employment and income.

One area of the Census we’ve been looking at is how people rate their general health. In 2021, 47.5% of adults in England and Wales rated their health as very good. This increased from the previous Census in 2011 when 45% said their health was very good. This varied at a regional and local authority level. The region with the highest proportion reporting very good health was the South East (49.6%). Conversely, the North East had the lowest proportion of people stating their health was very good (44.7%).

It's worth noting that the latest Census was conducted during the coronavirus pandemic which may have influenced how people perceived their health at a time when it was high up on many of our personal and news agendas.

Generally data tends to show us that our residents in the Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council areas generally experience good health, with life expectancy better than average. However, not all people in our communities experience this, and we see variation in health outcomes across many indicators of health and wellbeing.

So, what is the Census telling us so far about general health in our communities?

Well, similar to the national picture in that overall a large proportion of our population said they were in very good health - 48.4% in BCP and 49.2% in Dorset. This is comparable to the South West (48.7%) which was the third highest region in England and Wales.

This is good news, but when we dig a little deeper we start to see variation. At electoral ward level the proportion of people rating their health as very good ranged from a low of 37% to a high of 55.7% across the county. Cranborne Chase (55.7%) and Penn Hill (55%) had the highest proportions, whereas Melcombe Regis (37%) and West Moors & Three Legged Cross (38.8%) had the lowest. This goes some way to demonstrate how people perceive their health differently across our area. However, it’s worth noting that with age and health being closely related, differences in the age make-up of wards may account for some of this variation as these percentages aren't age standardised like those at local authority level.

The ONS will be releasing more data over the next year which will help us to gain more insight into how our residents’ health and wellbeing has changed since 2011. The ONS also provide a tool which allows you to see a range of data for a bespoke area that you can select. Our intelligence colleagues in Dorset Business Intelligence and Performance Team and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Research Team are also publishing Census related content on a wide range of topics.

Why does it matter?

Analysing data helps us to design and deliver public health services and support partners in our health and care systems to focus on making the biggest difference to people’s wellbeing. The Census is just one source of data that we use locally to analyse health and wellbeing trends in Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is an ongoing process that makes sure we continue to look at variation and trends in health and wellbeing. This includes examining topics such as life expectancy and excess deaths, mental health in our communities and what health and wellbeing looks like in our localities. The refresh of annual narratives for each local authority area are coming this summer, so keep an eye on this blog where we'll keep sharing topical data releases and insight from the JSNA process.

If you want to know more please contact us - intelli@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk