Linking Housing and Health Data:Producing Evidence Based Outcomes UK Public Health

ObjectivePoor housing conditions have a profound effect on the health of its residents but the precise degree remains unanswered. Can this question be addressed by linking health and housing datasets?BackgroundAn innovative method has been developed linking Local Authority housing and NHS health data sets using house location, to provide detailed joint housing and health profiles. The technique offers the potential to study and explore local housing and health indicators in depth to measure the effectiveness of new/improved housing projects.MethodWe have used the National Land Property Gazetter (NLPG) to link health and housing dataset addresses to specify a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) for each home. Where no consistency exists in address format, sophisticated addressing algorithms have been used to generate UPRN's. Joint housing and health profiles are created by linking UPRNs. An Infant Mortality Prototype has been developed as an outcome indicator.ResultsThe prototype indicated 5.4% of birth and 6.2% of death data were lost due to failure on generating UPRN or tenure. Infant Mortality rates were lowest in Council homes followed by Private homes and highest in Registered Social Landlord (RSL) properties. ConclusionsThe feasibility of linking health and housing data and the utility of this method has been demonstrated