EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016 - An Assessment

131 / 234

127 Chapter 8: Environment, Health and Wellbeing
In 2016, new County Health Profiles were launched on
the Health Service Executive (HSE) website2. The creation
of County Health Profiles is one of the key actions from
the Healthy Ireland strategy, as understanding health
needs at a local level enables local action and creates
an environment in which every individual and sector
of society can play their part. The county profiles help
to identify health priorities and highlight any health
inequalities that may exist. They are useful for people
who work with health partners on a county basis and
2
are also useful for those who are interested in a short
local profile, including healthcare professionals, local
authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The profiles provide a snapshot of the local
demographics, health issues and wider determinants
of health of that area, compared with the national
picture. The data represent nationally available indicators
that are available at a county/local authority level, e.g.
population size, deprivation, healthcare utilisation, etc.
Figure 8.2 Health Profile 2015: Wexford (Source: HSE)