Putting Public Health at the Heart of what we do Alice Walsh - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Putting Public Health at the Heart of what we do Alice Walsh Interim Director of Public Health

Content of presentation • What is public health? • The new public health system • Gloucestershire County Council’s public health responsibilities • Key public health issues for Gloucestershire • Health and Wellbeing Board priorities • Director of Public Health Annual Report • Recommendations

Health and wellbeing ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. World Health organisation definition

What is public health? The UK Faculty of Public Health (2010) defines public health as: ‘The science and art of promoting and protecting health and wellbeing, preventing ill health and prolonging life through the organised efforts of society.’

A Social Model of Health (Dahlgren & Whitehead, 1991)

The new public health system • Local authority responsibility to take steps to improve health • Health & Wellbeing Boards • Public Health England • A useful visual guide is available at www.kingsfund.org.uk/altguidenhs

GCC’s Mandatory responsibilities 1. Sexual health services 2. Local role in health protection 3. National Child Measurement Programme 4. NHS Health Check Programme 5. Providing Public Health advice to the NHS and support for Public Health England funded and NHS delivered services (including screening and immunisation).

Non-mandated responsibilities expected to be funded from the public health grant • Alcohol & drug misuse • Obesity & weight management • Increasing physical activity • Tobacco control & smoking cessation • Campaigns to promote behavioural and lifestyle changes (social marketing) • Public mental health services (including suicide prevention) • Public Health services for children 5-19 • Dental public health • Injury prevention • Workplace health • Initiatives to reduce seasonal mortality • Interventions to reduce & prevent birth defects.

Key public health issues for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire – Key public health issues • Health Inequalities – The gap between life expectancy between the most deprived areas of Gloucestershire and the most affluent is 6.6 years for men and 4.9 years for women • Ageing population – By 2035 people aged over 65 will have increased from 19% to 28% of the population

Key issues (cont)

Gloucestershire Health and Wellbeing Board priorities These are areas where joint working is required to make a step change in progress, namely:  reducing obesity  reducing the harm caused by alcohol  improving mental health  improving health and wellbeing into older age  tackling health inequalities.

Draft Annual Report of the Director of Public Health 2012-13

Recommendations • Focus on prevention – take early action to reduce the burden of disease and reduce preventable deaths (e.g: page 18) • Target interventions - based on evidence of need to reduce health inequalities eg by increasing access to targeted stop smoking services for pregnant women (see page 7). • Add value locally – eg through Making Every Contact Count (see page 10). • Focus on mental and emotional health and wellbeing – eg by raising awareness of the 5 steps to wellbeing (see page 26).

Recommendations (cont) • Take different approaches – focus on strengths through an asset based approach working ‘with’ rather than ‘doing to’ communities – building ‘social capital’ • Listen to customers and stakeholders – eg finding new ways to encourage early HIV testing (see page 21) – use of social marketing. • Work with partners to make public health everybody’s business

Put the public’s health and wellbeing at the heart of everything we do Highways, roads, Adult and transport Libraries community services Protective Waste services Public’s Health Planning Housing Environmental services NHS CYP Education services