HEA20 – HEALTH EQUITY AUDIT TOOL
The purpose of Health Equity Audit (HEA) is to help services narrow health inequalities. In order to achieve this, local partners must first identify how fairly services or resources are distributed in relation to the health needs of different groups and areas. Secondly, they must prioritise actions to provide services more equitably in relation to need.
In England, the requirement for Primary Care Trusts to use Health Equity Audit to inform service planning and delivery was set out by the Department of Health in the policy document, Priorities and Planning Framework 2003–2006.
HEA20 is a simple health equity audit tool with a set of 20 questions, developed and produced by the Directorate of Public Health of Doncaster Primary Care Trust. It builds on the Department of Health HEA cycle1 consisting of 6 steps:
1) Agree partners and issues
2) Equity profile: identify the gap
3) Agree high impact local action to narrow the gap
4) Agree priorities for action
5) Secure changes in investment and local delivery
6) Review progress and assess impact.
The 20 questions in the HEA20 tool are categorised into four main groups:
1) Questions 1-6 – General Scope and Stakeholders
2) Questions 7-9 – Defining the Issues
3) Questions 10-15 – Evidence Based Solutions
4) Questions 16-20 – Implementation and Evaluation
The Excel spreadsheet allows people quickly to go through the 20 questions, summarising the evidence for each area.
HEA20 – Excel Spreadsheet (381KB)
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