| Summary: | The public health field exists to safeguard the general public from health risks by controlling risk factors, classically through immunization programmes that prevent or control epidemics, or through actions such as monitoring the quality of drinking water. In our post-industrialised society, risk factors other than the environment, such as diet, exercise, tobacco and alcohol use, have grown in importance. The policy response to the growing demand upon healthcare services arising from chronic diseases caused by changing lifestyle factors has taking different forms, and these include targeting vulnerable groups using health promoting campaigns. This thesis addresses some of the challenges and opportunities in public health campaigns and healthcare planning that arise from the growing repositories of data that can be made available for targeting at the individual and small area level in a public health setting. The first part sets the scene by describing the concepts of health, public health and social marketing. The intention is to pave the way for broader discussions – in the progress of the thesis – about healthcare planning, population health, and social processes in the light of targeted public health interventions. Part two addresses the problems and possible solutions to a number issues in healthcare planning, starting with studies at the individual, then moving to organisations and ending with area classifications. The thesis draws on a number of case studies for targeting in a public health context including frequent accident and emergency users, teenage users of abortion services, women’s breast screening uptake, GP registration, and the neighbourhood characteristics of chronic disease patients. Finally, part three provides a synopsis of both context (part one), results (part two) and future perspectives on how routinely collected healthcare data can be used to create evidence for the planning of new cost-effective interventions.
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