Do You Live Lucky ?

Submitted by: Mahmood Choudhury

Describe your idea. How does it work and who does it help?

The term "postcode lottery" has been used to describe the seemingly random countrywide variations in the quality of public services available. The gap between the best and worst and how where you live can dictate the quality of your life.

The main area in which it is most often used is when referring to the NHS - waiting times, care, GP availability, obesity, access to NHS drugs etc.

The "inverse care law" states that generally the poorer you are, and more socially deprived your area - the worse your care and access to services is likely to be.

This has wide ranging implications for people in terms of longevity and the ultimate quality of their life. Recent media coverage has spoken of the discrepancy between areas where standard of health affects mortality rates.

When people move to an area or a country to start a new life they look at and consider many factors. These can include economic, social, mental and political variables. All these combined determine where a person chooses to live and how well their quality of life is.

I want to create a service product using the government datasets to enable people to see how different factors result in value of living. They can see possible differences in how location affect quality of life and life span.

For example, I can type in a postcode and then select six variables out of a total of forty nine. Each variable will present me with a factor that I will rate as the top of my list. So my ideal postcode area would have as its top variable - employment followed by health, education, safety, cultural diversity then environment.

These six are my golden ratios or numbers that I think are most important to me and where I want to live. Using these variables I can then see what area postcode within the UK closely matches my requirements. I can then see out of each variable how many people had selected it.

This would enable me to determine in my standard how valuable a certain area is to live and the quality of life I could expect.

There have been many surveys and studies to determine what affects people's standards of living. These include The Happy Planet Index where countries are measured on human well being and environmental impact (Vanuatu tops the list).

Then there is the World Values Survey which assesses the state of sociocultural, moral, religious and political values of different cultures around the world.

Finally, there is a mathematical model that uses factors to arrive at an equation. Its components are :

(Qi) individual's overall quality of life =

sum of :

status on quality x relative importance of quality +
c (constant to balance differences between scaling)

What information or services do you need?

Neighbourhood Statistics, Transport information from Transport Direct, Health care services and information from the NHS, Notices from the London Gazette, Address Data from the Royal Mail, A list of all the schools in England and Wales from the Department of Children, Schools and Families, Mapping from Ordnance Survey, Google Maps, Public Spending information from HM Treasury, Weather and Road data