There are five intelligence dashboards, one for each PCT neighbourhood. Developed by the Public Health Intelligence Team, the dashboards aim to tell the story of teenage conception at a locality level.
The dashboards present complex public health intelligence in a simple visual format. They use a mixture of graphics and statistics to make the data accessible.
The intelligence presented has been aggregated from local sources, rates are standardised, ONS Teenage Pregnancy Unit methodologies have been used where relevant, with statistical modelling applied to provide a full picture within the locality. Data protection principles are inherent in the presentation of the data.
With benchmarks for either Tameside Local Authority or NHS Tameside and Glossop, the dashboards describe for each locality, the:
- number and proportion of young women and men
- number of young women who became pregnant before their 18th birthday and corresponding conception rate
- repeat conceptions
- outcomes of conceptions
- conception rates by school
- trends in local pupil referral units
- uptake of preventions and intervention services
Also publicised on the dashboards are web resources, which list details about local sexual health services and contact details of the local C-card Coordinator.
The dashboard includes a notes section and the contact details for the relevant Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator. Individuals are encouraged to use the notes section to personalise the dashboards in supporting their professional role.
The dashboards can be viewed to the right in pdf format.
This resource has been developed in consultation with a wide variety of services for young people and was successfully piloted with a group of Connexions Teenage Pregnancy Personal Advisors.
Why are Teenage pregnancy conceptions an important issue in Tameside and Glossop?
Teenage pregnancy rates in Tameside are higher than both England and the North West, showing there is scope for significant improvement in our area. Teenage pregnancy rates for England have fallen over recent years while the rates in Tameside have not fallen over the same period.
Teenage conceptions are important due to the fact that teenage mums and their babies tend to do less well than older mums do.
The majority of teenage mums live in disadvantaged areas. Young women in more affluent areas are more likely to have a termination of their pregnancy.
Teenage mums tend to live in disadvantaged circumstances in terms of housing and income. They are less likely to be in education, employment or training than other women of a similar age.
They are more likely to smoke with the consequent harms to them and their babies and are also less likely to breastfeed. Their babies are more likely to be of a low birth weight which has potential impacts on the whole life of the child.
The programmes of work related to reducing teenage conceptions centre around ensuring good access to contraceptive and sexual health services underpinned by health education and skills development around choice at time of conception, breaking the social cycle of low expectations and self esteem plus supporting teenage mums to access training, employment and housing to ensure the wellbeing of the mums and their babies over the longer term.
Trend in under 18 years conception rates for Tameside MBC and England, 1998-2007.
