Department of Health to perform a health inequality audit for a specific geographic zone within Victoria

History & Principles of Public Health Assessment Task – Health inequalities audit

Introduction – For Assessment task, students will work as an independent population health consultant contracted by the Victorian Government's Department of Health to perform a health inequality audit for a specific geographic zone within Victoria. Students will apply an internationally recognised audit tool used in public health practice to provide their analysis of inequality within their assigned zone, and then prepare a report on their findings for submission to the Department of Health.

Purpose – (1) To apply knowledge of health inequality through use of a tool used by public health practitioners; and (2) to make a determination about population health and inequalities based on available data.

Background and resources –

This task is situated within the overall PUBH610 Assessment simulation. Your role is as an independent Population Health Consultant, contracted by the Victorian Government's Department of Health, to produce a health inequalities report on a designated zone within the state.

Specification – Your contract with the Department of Health specifies the following requirements for your health inequalities audit:

Conducting an audit of your assigned Kingdom, with reference to the 14-15 sub-zones that constitute that Kingdom.

Use of the UK National Health Services' Health Equity Audit tool, with your final audit report constituting Step 2 of the standard audit cycle.

Your audit report should detail 3-4 major health inequalities within the assigned Kingdom, and consider multiple inequality types (e.g. socioeconomic, gender, age…). Data should be represented visually (as appropriate) or in tabular form, and described clearly.

Your audit report should provide a summary of the health inequalities identified within the Kingdom.