Access to Services in Leicestershire

The effective planning, design and delivery of our local services requires a clear understanding of current and future service provision along with an understanding of all service user needs.

Varying requirements such as geographical areas, the range of services provided by different organisations and the quantity and diversity of available information means providing a concise reporting method is not easy.

The 'Access to Services' interactive tool presented here provides a powerful resource that provides:

  • flexibility to select information relevant to a particular service of interest
  • identification of areas with a particular demographic of service user
  • quantifiable distances to key services that are comparable across the county
  • identification of communities dependent on key services
  • identification of communities potentially disadvantaged in the access to a service
  • The purpose of the tool is to provide an opportunity to compare different geographical locations and demographic groups. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive understanding of access to service issues.

    Example Findings

    FINDING: Average distance to a GP Surgery is 1 mile

    FINDING: Bagworth and Thornton LSOA has a significantly higher proportion of children aged 0-4 years but the average distance to a day nursury is 3 times county average.

    FINDING: Waltham on the Wolds and Scalford LSOA has 14.5% of residents over 75 years - the county average is 7.5% - however it also has a significantly higher distance to primary care services than the county average.

    FINDING: Residents in rural communities significantly think that access to services is difficult, are dissatisfied with public transport and a significantly high number of households have two or more cars. Yet these residents tend to be more satisfied with their local area as a place to live.

    Categories within the Interactive Tool

    SERVICES: GP Surgeries - Dentists - Opticians - Primary Schools - Secondary Schools - FE Colleges - Supermarkets - Employment Centres - Libraries - Post Offices - Leisure Centres - County Council Service Points - Childcare Day Nurseries

    DEMOGRAPHICS: Age - Gender - Ethnicity

    GEOGRAPHIES: Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) - Urban Rural Classification - Community Forums - Local Authorities

    SERVICE USER PERCEPTIONS : Things Most Important - Things That Need Improving - Access Is Difficult - Satisfaction With Local Area - Attitudes To Local Transport (found under 'Urban Rural Classification' geography)

    User Guides

    Audio Video Tutorial:

    Larger screen version at vimeo.

    Acces to Services Poll

    If the tool covers your area of interest, did you find it useful?

    You are welcome to feedback any commentssuggestons on the interactive report.

    If you are unable view the video then the cribsheet briefly explains how to find information.