Citation

Buck D. Int. J. Health Promot. Educ. 1999; 37(2): 52-56.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Institute of Health Education)

DOI

10.1080/14635240.1999.10806094

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper asks whether the distribution of district health authority spending on health promotion and education in England is 'where it should be'. This is aided by simple graphical and statistical analysis using an under-utilized dataset, the Health Service Indicators, which contains information on expenditure by District Health Authorities. It is found that health promotion and education spending varies tremendously across District Health Authorities in England. In order to judge whether this may be justified it is analyzed in relation to district-level indicators of 'need' as proxied by various measures including standardized mortality ratios for premature ischaemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disease, suicides, childhood mortality and a deprivation index. Much of the variation seems unexplained, and if confirmed, raises serious questions for policy-makers over how best to ensure that the distribution of such expenditure is more appropriate in future.

Language: en

Keywords

article; budget; Distribution; England; Expenditure; health care cost; health education; Health education and promotion; health promotion; health service; human; primary medical care; public health; risk assessment; statistical analysis; United Kingdom