|Local health and lifestyle surveys continue to be a main source of
data at local level for PCTs and local authorities. Their importance is
emphasised in the need to respond to major policies.
Choosing Health set out a new approach to public health. It focused
change around some key priorities for action:
- reducing the number of people who smoke
- reducing obesity and improving diet and nutrition
- increasing exercise
- encouraging sensible drinking
- improving sexual health
- improving mental health
Lifestyle behaviour became the forefront of work in public health
through increasing joint working between PCTs and local authorities.
Our Health, Our Care, Our Say sets out new direction for health and
social care. One of the 4 main goals focuses around lifestyle and
encouraging changes in lifestyle behaviour. Through local area
agreements (LAAs), outcomes increasingly include lifestyle measures,
emphasizing the need for effective measurement at the local level.
Lifestyle surveys, giving precise estimates of key lifestyle indicators
(often over time) are key to supporting the monitoring of LAA