Proposed new deprivation index

doi:10.1136/bmj.310.6986.1067c

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Has major flaws in its derivation and validation

Nicky Britten,
Mel Bartley,
David Blane

Lecturer in medical sociology Department of General Practice, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, London SE11 6SP
Research officer in public health policy Nuffield College, Oxford OX1 1NF
Lecturer in medical sociology Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, London W6 8RP

EDITOR,—David C E F Lloyd and colleagues propose a new deprivation index for use in general practice, which is based on the proportion of patients exempted from prescription charges because they have a low income. It is therefore a proxy for the proportion of the practice population living in poverty. The authors believe that it has advantages over the indices with which they compare it (Jarman, Townsend, and Carstairs)—namely, that it is practice based and can be frequently updated. They correlate it with the established deprivation …