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Life Expectancy for areas in Scotland, 2008-2010

8. Notes and definitions

8.1 NHS Board areas

Following the dissolution of Argyll & Clyde NHS Board on 31 March 2006, its area has been split between Greater Glasgow and Highland NHS Boards and the former has been renamed Greater Glasgow & Clyde. The composition of the NHS Board areas in terms of Council areas is summarised in the table below:

NHS Board area

Council area

Ayrshire & Arran

East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire

Borders

Scottish Borders

Dumfries & Galloway

Dumfries & Galloway

Fife

Fife (part)

Forth Valley

Clackmannanshire, Falkirk (part), Stirling (part), Perth & Kinross (part)

Grampian

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray

Greater Glasgow & Clyde1

East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire (part), Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire (part), Stirling (part), West Dunbartonshire

Highland1

Argyll & Bute, Highland

Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire (part), South Lanarkshire (part), West Lothian (part), Falkirk (part)

Lothian

East Lothian, City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian (part), Falkirk (part)

Orkney

Orkney Islands

Shetland

Shetland Islands

Tayside

Angus, Dundee City, Perth & Kinross (part), Fife (part)

Western Isles

Eilean Siar

1 New Board areas including parts of former Argyll & Clyde NHS Board.

8.2 Community Health Partnerships

As of April 2011, there are 36 Community Health Partnership (CHP) organisations in Scotland following the merger of five Community Health and Social Care Partnerships to form Glasgow City CHP. In this publication, the new CHP is also split into three management sectors, North East, North West and South. CHPs are responsible for managing community health services and have developed existing links between community and hospital-based health services and local authority services such as social work, housing, leisure and education. Their principal aim is to improve the long-term health and wellbeing of communities and enhance the quality of health and social care services. In some areas the Partnerships are responsible for many local social care services and are therefore called Community Health and Care Partnerships (CHCPs) or Community Health and Social Care Partnerships (CHSCPs) and are run jointly by the NHS with local Council partners. For ease of reading they are referred to as CHPs throughout the publication.

8.3 Urban and Rural areas

The urban-rural split used in this publication is the Scottish Government's 6-fold Urban Rural Classification version 2009-2010. The differences between the 2007-2008 and the 2009-2010 classifications stem from changes to either settlement populations or settlement boundaries. The definitions of urban and rural areas underlying the classification are unchanged. More information can be found in the 2009-2010 Urban Rural Classification publication held on the Scottish Government website. The 6-fold classification distinguishes between urban, rural and remote areas within Scotland. It is consistent with the Government's definition of rurality and includes the following categories:

1) Large Urban

Settlements of over 125,000 people.

2) Other Urban

Settlements of 10,000 to 125,000 people.

3) Accessible Small Towns

Settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.

4) Remote Small Towns

Settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people and with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more.

5) Accessible Rural

Settlements of less than 3,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.

6) Remote Rural

Settlements of less than 3,000 people and with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more.

 

8.4 Deprivation areas

Deprivation areas are based on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2009 developed by the Scottish Government. Further information can be found on the Scottish Government website. The SIMD ranks the 6,505 Scottish data zones (areas of compact shape and similar social characteristics with populations of around 795 people) from 1 (most deprived) to 6,505 (least deprived). Life expectancy figures for deprivation areas have been presented for deciles only in this publication, although the SIMD rank can also be split into vigintiles and quintiles. Deciles are groups which contain one tenth (approximately 651) of Scotland's 6505 data zones, where decile 1 contains the 10 per cent most deprived data zones and decile 10 contains the 10 per cent least deprived. The SIMD measures deprivation and not affluence and life expectancy figures presented by deprivation area in this publication should not be translated as 'life expectancy of the rich versus that of the poor' but instead should be viewed in terms of 'differences in life expectancy in relation to the amount of concentrated deprivation'. It should also be noted that not all people living in deprived areas are deprived and not all deprived people live in deprived areas.

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