Unit 12: Public Health
Understand the factors that affect health status and patterns of ill health
The state of the public’s current health patterns is where we have increased in life
expectancy but are spending more years in ill health. The government who monitor
the populations public health have many concerning with factors that have impacted
on the public’s health including smoking, drinking and a strong link between our
health and social status as many people in deprived areas are living in poor health.
These factors are likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK as
we need to health promotion to help people to stay healthy and well for longer by
campaigns to that promote quitting smoking and drinking and encourage healthy
eating. People’s health in the North West of England currently have more people
who likely to smoke whilst South East of England are less likely. The influence of the
government on factors that contribute to the current patterns of health and illness in
the UK are contributing to tackle patterns of ill health to make sure our health status
is healthy and well to decrease ill health.
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Patterns of ill health is the reoccurrence of illness that has shown significant patterns
and trends that have appeared throughout the UK’s public health that result in many
of the population being in ill health. There are health inequalities of the unequal
distribution of income, power and wealth that lead to poverty and marginalisation of
individuals and groups. This results in wider environmental influences with an
individual’s experience of economic and work that provide individuals income to
support themselves, education where individuals should be educated about health
and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid factors that cause ill health with
knowing the consequences of them e.g. smoking causes cancer. As well as the
access to services within an area, deprived areas have individuals with low income,
poor housing and access to health services which causes them to most likely go into
ill health. These experiences lead to the inequalities in health outcomes as deprived
areas not having good quality housing leads to catch sickness easily. And not having
the essential resources and health services affects them not having a healthy
lifestyle and standard of living.
There have been public health reports recorded that have explained the patterns in ill
health, government reports that discuss the patterns of ill health include:
• The Black Report 1980
The Black Report 1980 is an important piece of document which claimed that the
health inequality was getting worse in the UK since the National Health Service. With
finding that the mortality rate was far worse for people from a lower social class than
from a higher social class. Sir Douglas Black, who was the President of the Royal
College of Surgeons published in 1980 had the main focus of the clear link between
health chances and social class related inequalities. Mark Walsh et al. (2000) Health
& Social Care (Advanced Vocational) Collins Ed. [Online] Material deprivation and
social inequality in health were linked in areas including income, education, housing,
diet, employment and conditions of work believed they have a significant impact on a
person’s health and showed significance in health inequalities. Which I do agree as
his findings with material deprivation as well as health and social inequality are real
things and do impact many families and individual’s health from different social
classes. Health inequalities can make a vast majority of the population to experience
ill health. Social status has an impact on our life chances and quality of health and if
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,Unit 12: Public Health
there is no reduction in health inequalities, a vast amount of society will be suffering
with a range of health issues and an increase in financial costs of health and welfare
spending. For example, Sir Donald Acheson in his Independent Inquiry into
Inequalities in Health (1998), found that people from lower social backgrounds eat
less fruit and vegetables and other foods that were rich in nutrients which increased
certain cancers and heart disease.
As well as the physical environment where industrial pollution linked to many health
problems such as asthma and many children from poorer backgrounds suffer greater
risks to health in the home due to exposure to gas appliances and faulty electrical
appliances. The report made some recommendation for action to improve public
health including the Department of Health focused on health inequalities and try to
make improvements. As well as a national food survey to be conducted to collect
information regarding the population’s nutritional intake and an expansion of
domiciliary care of home care to accommodate the needs of an elderly population.
• Acheson Report
The Acheson Report 1998 was established when in 1997, the Labour government
commissioned Donald Acheson to produce a report on health inequalities in the UK.
Followed after the Black Report 1980, the government wanted him to make
recommendations on what the government needed to do to reduce health
inequalities where the report made 39 recommendations. The report identified 3
main priority areas which included evaluating all government policies which impacted
on health, focus on the health of families with children as well as monitor and
improve living standards of poor household. These inequalities that affect the whole
of society as the measures of health inequalities that have remained and widen over
the decades. Socioeconomic health inequalities reflect public health as many
individual’s personal behaviour and lifestyle influence in patterns of eating, drinking,
smoking habits and lack of physical activity is damaging health. Prevention
approaches to attempt to change the individual’s risk by encouraging to give up
smoking and change diet and promote healthy behaviour and improve psychological
conditions to reduce social and economic inequalities.
• Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier 2004
This government report planned a new strategy for health in the NHS. That sets
clear priorities for health promotion including reducing the number of people who
smoke and reducing obesity and improving diet and nutrition. As well as encourage
and support sensible, increase exercise and improve sexual and mental health. They
have 3 key principles of:
o Informed choices – where clear and accurate information should be provided to
the public before making informed decisions
o Personalisation - the support is tailored to the service user which makes it
personal to them. The support should be flexible around the service user
needs
o Working together – co-ordinating care organisations, local councils and
businesses, charities, the media and the NHS their responses together with
working in partnership to promote health issues and provide support to
support users.
o Wider social, economic, environmental and cultural trends have benefitted from
economic growth, improving education, better housing and better sanitation.
After the establishment of the NHS which provided immunisation, screening
and treatment to prevent ill health.
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• Saving lives: Our Healthier Nation
The Saving Lives – Our Healthier Nation White Paper was published in 1999
which was a programme set out to saves lives, promote healthier living and
reduce health inequalities. The co-operative effort made across the government
as a response from the Acheson Report to tackle health inequalities and for the
government working in partnerships with local communities and individuals. By
tackling inequalities in schools, the workplace and neighbourhoods where the
NHS help reduce the inequalities through local partnerships and Health
Improvement Programmes and Health Action Zones. Inequalities include to
tackle poor health in order to gain better health like reducing smoking rates, wider
social through social classes, environmental like housing or living in a polluted
environment and economic issues like poverty and low wages that impact on
health. This action plan is to improve the public’s health especially the health of
people in poverty. As well as targeting 4 key health problems including coronary
heart disease and stroke, cancer, accidents and mental illness. These targets
were to be achieved by 2010 like 20% reduction of deaths due to cancer to save
100,000 lives and 40% reduction due to coronary heart disease and stroke where
200,000 lives to be saved. This has been achieved as the Tackling Health
Inequalities, a Programme for Action 2003, as death rates from heart disease and
stroke have reduced for both men and women since 2001. This white paper is to
set a better public health for everyone in the Britain as many people were
suffering from poor health and spending time in ill health or die from preventable
illnesses. Tackling and aiming to achieve better health for everyone to take action
for themselves and their families where the public can value better health by
exercising, eating properly and not smoking. The government taking action and
co-operating with local councils, the NHS and local voluntary bodies and
businesses to raise campaign to improve health to make informed decisions to
save lives, improve health and reduce inequality.
• Tackling Health Inequalities, a Programme for Action 2003
This programme for action publishes on the 2 nd July 2003 sets out a 3-year plan to
ensure departments deliver their commitments and this report was commissioned by
the government to check on progress following previous report to tackle health
inequalities. This report set two key objectives for progress with regards to health
inequalities where starting with children under a year old, by 2010 to at least reduce
10 per cent of the gap in mortality between routine and manual groups and the
population as whole. And starting with local authorities by 2010 to reduce at least 10
per cent of the gap between the fifth of areas with the lowest life expectancy at birth
and the population as a whole. As the sustained investment in the NHS and other
vital public services where new treatments, technology and medical advances to
tackle health inequalities by delivering long-term improvement for the disadvantaged
areas in society.
An overview of the main patterns of ill health in the UK as a whole include:
• Increase in life expectancy – this risen life expectancy is good, but statistics
show that we are spending extra time suffering poor health as Public Health
England found men have around 16 years of ill health whilst 19 years for
women.
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