Durham Index of Need

Durham Index of Need (DIoN)

The Durham Index of Need (DIoN) is a visual, user-friendly thematic based needs index which aims to deliver enhanced insight into the social, economic and health and wellbeing risk factors and challenges that are shaping our communities and driving demand for services. It’s a locally developed tool that helps identify community needs by combining local data at small area level relating to income, poverty, health, and other risk factors and outcomes. It is designed to inform local conversations and support targeted action where it’s needed most at a local level, providing partners a focus of where to look. The geography used is Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) which is a small-area statistical geography, smaller than Local Authority and subject to less boundary change than Wards¹.

Why has DIoN been developed?

Understanding the needs of the local community is a fundamental requirement for all public sector organisations to support the delivery of services and/or interventions more effectively and with a view to reducing inequalities in risk factors, access and outcomes. Segmenting communities based on demographics, vulnerabilities, health outcomes and financial characteristics enables local authorities to support the delivery of services more effectively and to target interventions or initiatives where the need is greatest. DIoN has been developed with this in mind, with a view to helping make better informed decisions to improve local communities and target local services or interventions where need is greatest, and ultimately reduce inequality. It can assist partners when looking to assess or prioritise community needs or to strengthen funding bids. It aims to bring together relevant, meaningful and timely local data covering a range of measures relating directly to the local experience of income and poverty, health and wellbeing, risk factors and the wider determinants of health that can lead to poorer outcomes in communities and inequalities between them.

DIoN has been developed as part of our JSNAA and is closely linked to our Approach to Wellbeing in County Durham.

How DIoN Can Be Used:

• Identify areas needing targeted support or intervention (e.g. boosting pension credit uptake).
• Guide service delivery and targeted interventions.
• Help partners assess and prioritise population needs.
• Strengthen funding applications for specific areas.

Key Principles:

• DIoN is a resource to inform local decision-making, not a ranking tool for comparing areas or a league table of failure. If you use it as a league table then you’re using it incorrectly!
• Different areas have unique needs and different starting points.
• DIoN doesn’t cover all small-area data but works alongside the content on Durham Insight to provide a detailed sub-county evidence base across the themes of Population; Economy & Employment, Poverty and Deprivation.

Recent applications of DIoN:

• Supporting pension credit uptake projects.
• Aiding Winter Planning efforts.
• Assisting fire and rescue services in protecting vulnerable residents.
• Helping Integrated Neighbourhood Teams identify priority areas.

DIoN doesn’t cover all small-area data but works alongside Durham Insight to provide a detailed sub-county evidence base for improving financial resilience, health, and reducing inequalities.

For further information relating to the use of DIoN please contact PublicHealthIntelligence@durham.gov.uk.

[1] MSOAs are small geographical areas in the United Kingdom that are designed to have similar population sizes (around 7,500 on average) and relatively stable geographical borders, making them useful for analysing and comparing local data. However, the population size of individual MSOAs can vary, and some may have populations slightly above or below the average. It’s important to note that population figures can change over time due to demographic shifts, changes in housing patterns, and other factors.