P1.
The strategies used to develop public health in order for it to meet its aim.
The aim of public policy is to plan national provisions of health care and promote the health
of the population, identify and monitor the needs of the population, identify and reduce
inequalities, protect society from health threats, address national health problems and
develop screening programmes.
Plan national provisions of health care and promote the health of the population essentially
means that the government will provide more health services, fair and impartial health
services across the country, good standards throughout all hospitals and any health
services. In addition this meant that the government needed to gather more data for future
preventions and gather information on factors that may influence health such as smoking,
poverty and education.
Identifying and monitoring the needs of the population is a way of meeting the needs of the
population. The government created the social citizenship agenda which helped children
with their health, support for mental health, support with illness and anything provoked by
poverty. Active role in raising public awareness continued through the years about various
things such as fireworks, crossing the roads safely and sexual health. This also meant that
the government would constantly predict new social changes and influences in order to
create better treatments.
In Hertfordshire, the main issue is physical health and the use of alcohol and tobacco. The
advice on how to increase your physical health and reduce the alcohol and tobacco use can
be found on their website.
Identifying and reducing inequalities, means that the NHS would be responsible for the
majority of public health. This was only induced in 1974 as the NHS was being created and
was now responsible for the majority of public health and aiming to focus on rural and
industrial areas.
Identifying and reducing inequalities can also refer to communities of individuals and the
communities within the society. This could mean that depending on what the individual may
suffer from may not be seen as soon as possible in comparison to someone else who may
be less at risk. This can cause inequality between groups. Another example would be age,
the elderly are more likely to wait less rather than younger individuals as they are more at
risk, however one could argue the case that the younger individual is more important.
Protect society from health threats, essentially means that the government would be
responsible in protecting the public health from future outbreaks of diseases, placing
preventative measures where possible, local authorities also had to become more
responsible of the people within their community and general factors were more supported,
such as bad housing would be given support and guidelines.
Environmental hazards and communicable diseases are constantly increasing throughout
the day, therefore by increasing awareness on how to make our environment better, this can
prevent possible health risks from happening or reduce them. As for communicable
diseases, the Hertfordshire council have sent out leaflets on how to stay safe during winter
times due to an increase in flu, as well as campaigns on how to stay safe.
,Unit 8
Public Health
Addressing national health problems can vary from air pollution to traffic pollution. This
means that the government would essentially raise more awareness on factors that could
have an impact on our health.
Strategies for developing health policy could be minimising the harm of environmental
factors, such as recycling, waste management, pollution reduction and ensuring food safety.
By recycling, we are able to reduce the need to grow, harvest or extract new raw materials,
by managing waste this will reduce the cost of disposal and prevent air, water and land/soil
pollution. By reducing pollution, we are able to reduce harmful emissions from the air, water
and land, we will also be slowing down the progress of climate change and global warming.
By ensuring food safety, we are able to prevent viruses such as food poisoning, reduce food
waste and also promote good health.
Examples of addressing national health problems could be the recent epidemic of COVID-
19. Throughout the epidemic, the government has released a “Stop Covid-19 hanging
around” campaign which stated that air-born viruses are more likely to stay indoors and
increase the chances of being infected if the rooms are not well ventilated.
As for local provisions, in Hertfordshire, precisely Watford, the council have put out “A
Healthy Watford” which simply states the core 9 themes to have a good wellbeing. These 9
themes are social interaction, access to work, active population, mental health, health
facilities, green space, cycling & walking, a good diet and clean air.
Developing screening programmes is a way of identifying people who may be at risk of
contracting a disease of the condition. This is important as the NHS can prevent it and tackle
it or reduce the progress of it. Locally, in Watford, it is promoted for women to go to
screening programmes for cancers such as breast cancer in order to prevent it or reduce the
risk of it.
Throughout health and social care settings as well as pharmacies, promote ‘Free MOT for
people aged over 40’s’, this essentially means that doctors will be able to take blood
samples and check for any problems or pre-existing diseases.
Cholera is recognised as a foreign epidemic since it mainly transferred from ports as mass
migration had caused this, it was commonly known as the Asiatic cholera. The first
appearance of cholera was in 1831 and onwards, the huge breakouts were in 1837-1838
which also included epidemics of typhoid and influenza.
Edwin Chadwick was requested to carry out an enquiry into sanitation. This led to Chadwick
finding out that there was a direct link between cholera and poor living conditions; this was
carried out through quantitative research. This developed the Public Health Act 1848 and
The Board of Health which Chadwick was the first director. Chadwick believed that cleaning,
drainage and ventilation would help decrease the spread of cholera. He believed that
cholera was an air-born disease, therefore he began to remove human waste, however this
would be flown into the River Thames which was essentially used as drinking water. As
mentioned before, Chadwick believed that cholera was a miasma disease and that the
vapours of cholera would infect people.
In 1948-49 there was a second outbreak of cholera, following another breakout in 1853-54.
John Snow, a London-based physician, had released a paper on cholera and discussed how
the disease is a water-born disease and not by air. But not much attention was paid to this
paper. He provided evidence by collecting quantitative research from an area in London, this
proved his theory of cholera coming from the main water pump. Snow was able to stop the
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Public Health
water pump and he was able to prove that there was a decrease in cholera and that cholera
is a water-born disease. But the General Board of Health 1854 denied his theory.
Over the years, London had overgrown within the population but the infrastructure of London
was not considered. This caused the Great Stink which essentially meant that the River
Thames was full of bacteria and there was a rise in cholera. Joseph Bazalgette created a
sewage system which was favoured by Edwin Chadwick, this was put in place in 1865.
There were many scientists and physicians who had been working on the theory of germs
and bacteria throughout the world during this time, for example, Louis Pasteur.
After the second World War, the soldiers coming back had been greatly injured, at this point
they still needed to pay for medical services but the soldiers did not agree with this ideology
since they had fought for their country.
The Beveridge report is a written report by Wiliam Beveridge on how the National Health
Services should be free, this was created in 1942 and was called Social Insurance And
Allied Services. This caused Clement Atlee’s Labour Government to create the NHS free.
The NHS was developed in 1948. Before the NHS existed, people would need to go to
doctors and pay for their care or visits to physicians and doctors.
The National Health Service Act 1946 states that medical services should be free. This also
brought local voluntary hospitals to national public ownership. This act was put in place and
in practice by Aneurin Bevan, at that time, he was the minister of national health.
The NHS is now fully financed by tax.
There have been many plagues in the past, an example of this would be the Great Plague of
London which essentially is also known as the Bubonic Plague. This began in 1665 and
lasted for a year; it killed 68,595 people in London. The Bubonic PLague had only increased
in spreading due to poor housing conditions and the fact that the poor had nowhere to
escape or live besides in a house with other people who may have already caught the
disease. At first, it was believed that the disease came from rats but it was actually the fleas
on their fur.
P2.
Explain how monitoring information to determine patterns of health and ill health is
used by the government to inform the creation of public health policy.
The government monitors information to determine patterns of health and ill health in order
to form new public health policies by looking at the past statistics, working with other
agencies, evaluating all areas of the nations, minimising harm from the environment, looking
at RIDDOR (Recording of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations)
reports and WHO (Worldwide Health Organisation) reports.
The Worldwide Health Organization gains its insight from looking at past statistics and by
analysing the trends and patterns of people. The WHO get their information by numerous
data collection methods and analysis tools. This helps them determine new ways to promote
public health and how to reduce certain diseases or infections from spreading.
The UK government gains their insight from looking at census, various civil details about
their health and once again analysing the new trends and patterns in the daily life of their
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