Hannah C
P1: Explain the strategies used to develop public health policy in order for it to meet its aims
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(RCN, 2018) States that the definition of public health is to refer to all organised measures that
enable the prevention of diseases, promote health and that can prolong life amongst the worlds
population. Consequently, public health policies are the organised measures, such as laws, actions,
regulations and decisions that are implemented, in order to ensure that public health is universally
met throughout society. It can cover reports such as the Beveridge report 1942, or the forming of
services such as the National Health Service Act 1946. These types of movements can help public
health reach its aims, such as identifying and monitoring the needs of the population, protecting
individuals from threats to health and well-being that arise from environmental hazards or
communicable diseases, addressing specific national health problems, planning national provision of
healthcare and promoting the health of the population, or developing programmes to screen for
early diagnosis of disease. All of these are very beneficial to our society and help to contribute to
public health.
The Beveridge Report 1942 created the 5 Giant Evils; squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease.
From this, the government were able to overcome some of these evils in 1945 after the war ended.
For example, they built council houses with bathrooms, introduced free education up to age 15,
introduced a system of benefits such as sick pay, introduced Labour Exchanges and set up the
National Health Service. These policies implemented were highly important in identifying and
reducing inequalities between groups and communities in society as it enabled people within the
council houses to use a sanitary toilets inside. Furthermore, the National Health Service became
efficient in providing free healthcare up to the point of delivery for all individuals, therefore
providing equality as it meant that not only the rich could gain access to basic health needs.
Strategies
Identifying health needs is a crucial part of society as it helps make aware what issues need to be
tackled and then how the preventative measures will be implemented. This is the responsibility of
the Department of Health and Social Care who will work alongside 28 other agencies and public
bodies in order to gain full understanding of the nations health issues. The Department of Health
and Social Care’s role is to set overall strategies, provide funds and oversee the health and social
care system in order to meet their main objective, which is to help individuals live more independent
and healthier lives for longer. Health and Social Care Information Centre’s role is to provide ‘data,
standards and IT infrastructure to healthcare practitioners and analysts across the UK’ (Quittance
Legal Services, 2021). Health Education England has a role of promoting healthy behaviour within
communities in order to prevent and manage diseases or injuries, by providing information to
certain populations on particular health topics and to help educate and train the health workforce.
As a result, the agencies collectively work together to research and produce statistics to ensure the
government know what policies are needed. These would help meet the aims of identifying and
monitoring the needs of the population as statistics influence public health policies by outlining what
issues need to be overcome or managed. An example of a current policy is for childhood obesity.
‘School Food’ has made caterers think about introducing healthier foods to school menus, which can
spread awareness to the childhood obesity issues and provide a strategy to overcome it.
By having programmes developed, it can help provide preventative measures, such as food labelling
which provides an insight as to what is in the food, ensuring that people are aware of their dietary
intake. The programmes can also include screening for early signs of health conditions, for the
purpose of having an earlier diagnosis, and therefore providing a better health outcome. For
example, there are routine checkups offered to people over 40, testing cholesterol and blood
pressure. By noticing earlier signs, they can help control or monitor the development or progression.
If it can be controlled or managed, then it could reduce the risk of further complications such as a
stroke or heart condition.
, Hannah C
Another strategy is planning and evaluating the national provision of health and social care target
settings. This would include national and local programmes on issues such as the childhood obesity.
(Aldworth et al, 2016) refer to a Public Health England report which concluded that ‘one in five
children entering primary school is already overweight or obese.’ From this statistic and others, they
would have made a plan to create a new government policy, which was called ‘Obesity and Healthy
Living’. The policy aims were to encourage people to eat a healthy diet and exercise more by 2020.
The evaluation process would’ve started from when they first received the statistics, and would’ve
had to create the plan, evaluate the likelihood of the preferred outcome, how they would’ve
achieved it and then towards the end evaluate the final outcome of change. This highlights the
significance of the planning and evaluating national provision strategy as they take previous
information and will influence the creation of new policies to be implemented within society to
contribute to public health.
The final strategy is minimising harm of environmental factors. These include waste management,
recycling, pollution and food safety. This responsibility is down to the Department for Environment,
Food safety and Rural Affairs (Defra). The main aim of Defra is to protect individuals in society from
threats to health and wellbeing that arise from environmental hazards and communicable diseases.
An example of how they do that is through the implementation of the Air Quality Strategy for the
UK. (Laqm Defra, 2021) Estimate that air pollution causes 28,000 to 36,000 deaths a year in the UK
and within a report published by Public Health England, it warns economic costs could reach as
much is £18.6 billion by 2035. Defra presented the Air Quality Strategy to Parliament in hopes that it
could help minimise the levels of harmful pollutants. As a consequence of this, it demonstrates how
influential strategies can be to public health policies as it provides the information in order to
identify issues and can present opportunities for positive change within society.
P2: Explain how monitoring information to determine patterns of health and ill health is used by
government to inform the creation of public health policy
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Sources of information
Public health monitoring includes the regular collection of data for relevant components of health. It
contributes towards the public health policy process. Sources of information, like statistics from
organisations or studies from reports, provide data which is used by public health practitioners to
monitor and respond to public health issues. Furthermore, public health policy can be influenced by
certain groups such as government agencies, pressure groups or inter/national groups.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is the primary source of gathering large amounts of data and
information from scientific research for the government. The World Health Organisation produces
statistics and data from every country within the UK and other countries world wide. They ensure
local and regional health is monitored to address specific needs, and therefore plan resources to
improve the issues identified or minimise the risk of them occurring. In order for this to happen, the
World Health Organisation will depend on government departments, such as the UK’s Department
of Health, who them themselves will rely on local and regional health authorities, who are the ones
who report on the health of them areas. Health settings, which include GP surgery’s, local hospital or
pharmacies, have a responsibility of reporting illnesses or diseases which could pose a threat to the
health of the population. Reporting any health issues perceived as potential threats to the health of
the population, such as measles or meningitis, can enable the local authorities to provide resources
or medical health to control or manage the spread. Monitoring the disease could help to identify a
pattern of its spread, and the severity of it.
, Hannah C
The Black Report 1980 is a study commissioned and published by the Department of Health and
Social Security, which focused on health inequalities in the UK. The purpose of this study was to
determine the comparative patterns of health and ill health from poorer areas against wealthy
areas. It discovered that ill health and death rates were higher within the poorer areas and
communities. It expressed that the life expectancy differed by ten years between the wealthy and
the poor. This statistic alone highlighted and emphasised that the inequalities were prevalent. They
reflected that the wealthier professionals had more awareness regarding health and lifestyle,
whereas the poorer areas had limited access and knowledge regarding health and ill health. In order
to combat the inequalities, the Black Report suggested that the government should implement new
policies or make positive changes to the current ones at that time.
Only a few years later, there was another report called the Acheson Report1998, which was also
showing inequalities in health care due to economic statuses. It promoted the use of funding for
nutritional education in schools through the curriculum as well as educating children in the deprived
areas to budget and cook healthy meals. From this, they suggested policies to help prevent health
disparities. Consequently, we see from both these reports that having the data they collect can help
to inform decision making in healthcare, by bringing certain inequalities to light. This can influence
public health practitioners in monitoring and responding to public issues as having the up-to-date
information can help them to decide on certain health precautions to enable them to maintain good
public health.
Influencing public health policy development
There are many groups worldwide that can help to influence public health policy development.
These include government agencies, pressure, international and national groups. All of these can
help to collect data, push for change or make decisions in settings and for different causes and
reasons.
An example of a government agency is the Department of Health. They have a responsibility of
helping to shape and deliver policy that display the government objectives. They also ensure the
provision of appropriate health and social care services by setting strategies, funds and overseeing
the healthcare system. In order to do this, they obtain current data from the local regional or global
agencies and gather any evidence of illness and disease. Every country has a Department of health
which would do this for that specific area.
Pressure groups are important in promoting change, which ultimately can influence public health
policy depending on the groups purpose. They are organisations which collect data and use it to
persuade the government to change policies or provide funding for a cause. Furthermore, they
campaign to raise awareness and aim to help change laws or legislations which they believe are
ineffectual in promoting good public health. An example of a pressure group is Age UK. They
regularly conduct research into the health of individuals over 60 in order to combat any issues
regarding age discrimination, the effects of ageing or human rights. This demonstrates that pressure
groups are influential in public health policy developments as they would commission reports and
provide analysis to support their causes with a purpose of change.
The World Health Organisation is an example of an international group that would influence public
health policy. There purpose is to work with the countries policymakers and institutions around the
world to set standards for research and ensure that countries receive appropriate health support
and guidance. This therefore shows that they are influential in public health policy development as
they provide the standards to ensure that all the governments are aware of up to date research to
help benefit public health.
National groups carry out research in their specialist area and help to implement legislation. An
example of one in the UK is the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). They are an
organisational body that monitor systems and organisations that are involved in health issues. They
do this by reviewing guidance and setting standards, which could come from the World Health
