| REGIONAL HEALTH PROMOTION TARGETS
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| C&AG (NI)'s Report, paras 2.27-2.28
| 23. DHSS has recognised the need to invest in research and it supports participation in international research projects, such as the World Health Organisation- sponsored MONICA (Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease) project. The objectives of this project are to monitor, across 38 centres in 21 countries, the incidence of validated fatal and non-fatal coronary heart attacks over a period of time and to relate the trends to changes in the major risk factor levels of cigarette smoking, serum cholesterol and blood pressure.
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| C&AG (NI)'s Report, para 3.4
| 24. In his Report, the C&AG recognised that research on risk factors is con- tinuing at regional and at local levels and that this is lengthy and sometimes inconclusive.
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C&AG (NI)'s Report, paras 3.1-3.3
C&AG (NI)'s Report, para 3.5
| 25. As part of the MONICA project, the level of risk factors was measured in a survey population in 1986-87 and this influenced DHSS's strategic planning, whereby targets were set in the Department's 1992-97 Strategic Plan for each of the main risk areas. This original survey, however, has been criticised for being too urban-based and unrepresentative, with data not being updated and therefore progress being difficult to measure. In addition, some targets were reached too quickly suggesting that they may not have been sufficiently challenging.
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C&AG (NI)'s Report, para 3.6
Q 19
| 26. The Department accepted the criticisms of the MONICA survey and said that a new Survey of Health and Social Well-being which is intended to provide a baseline for the setting of new targets was due to start in January 1997. We questioned DHSS as to what measures it had taken to ensure that any new survey would be more widely acceptable. We were told that it is a more representative sample with a wider range covering both town and country, giving the Department for the first time since 1988, a baseline against which it could work.
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| Conclusions |
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| 27. We consider it essential that the Department should be able to measure progress against the targets it has set for improving health. We welcome its new Survey of Health and Social Well-being but we must express some disappointment at the shortcomings of the earlier Survey. We expect DHSS to validate the acceptability of the new Survey by cross-checking with Boards and any other bodies likely to seek to use the statistics emerging from the Survey. The Survey results must also be capable of comparison with other parts of the United Kingdom.
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