PUBLIC HEALTH- UNIT 8
By Kirsty Mcalpine
Kirsty McAlpine
5226795
,Public health is the science which promotes good health and hygiene as well as preventing disease
(Royal College of Nursing, 2018). This is using a public health policy to ensure that this is in place and
to ensure the aims are being met. This policy uses a combination of legislation, regulations, and
community outreach to help meet these goals in order to create a society where the health and
wellness of the community is promoted. An example of this might be suggesting eating 5 fruit and
vegetables per day, this is based on scientific evidence that eating a significant amount of fruit and
vegetables will boost immunity and help with fighting infections in the body. The public health policy
within this would be to promote this within the community, this could be through many things like,
the internet, for example, social media or through health campaigns for weight loss, for example
slimming world, this then will be spread by the human word so that others are more aware of what
can help improve their health. Implementing policy is important due to the fact they produce a guide
for everyone to follow to successfully meet the aims that are set (Kelly, 2020), and for public health
policy, this would be to promote the health of the public. This meets the aims of ensuring the
fairness and impartial health service as it monitors the needs of the population, this could be via
national health surveys to look how health is improving to create a more healthy population and
over time understand how life can be prolonged. In addition, looking at the information that the
ublic like to share will also meet this aim as it helps them to be fair and empowers the public when
distributing information of which they use to promote health.
The strategies
The first strategy that is used is identifying the health needs, and making a policy that is relevant.
This is initially a responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care as they have a role of
looking at the population to alter and change policies which helps to meet their aims of living a mor
independent life for longer (nao, 2018), as it is more up to date with the current research that has
been done within the health of the public. Health and social care information centre is the providers
that provide standards within the IT infrastructure to help patients more efficiently and create better
health outcomes for patients. One of the main roles that they have within strategy 1 is to predict
health trends, monitor the effects of health from new treatments and comparing care from different
areas of the country. This ensures that care is given in the best way possible, and that early
intervention can be put in place to put measures in place to avoid further health problems (Chris
Salmon, 2021). Within covid, this was to look at the symptoms and the severity of symptoms relating
to covid, and making a policy which suggested people to record this on the ZOE app or the NHS covid
app for them to be able to understand; the policy was to stay at home and isolate, especially at the
start this was vital as the UK cases rose from 79 cases on the 6th March 2020 to 62,352 just a year
later, with deaths at this time at 1,041. Which overall, shows how deadly the virus was and how
necessary it was to implement policy into covid to help reduce this, as both herd immunity and the
isolation made cases increase 194,615 but deaths reduce to 231 (Our World in Data, 2022b) from
the weaker straits of the virus.
NHS digital strategy makes is more efficient for individuals to get involved in their care, this is by
working in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS
Improvement to ensure that patients can have a better experience, this is by collecting data statistics
from NHS service users and aims to enhance the knowledge professionals have of patient care and
treatment. It also allows professionals to communicate their expertise so that professions give
appropriate treatment and make correct diagnosis (NHS Digital, 2018). The roles of NHS digital are to
collect and disseminate data to make the information available for external organisations, this has a
goal of maximising accessibility whilst maintaining dignity and privacy of service users and
professionals when keeping information confidential (NHS digital, 2013).
Kirsty McAlpine
5226795
, NHS England is the service that provides good quality care to the public with the aim of improving
their health and treating patients with dignity and respect, as well as continually improving the care
that they are providing through building a broader knowledge of education within the sector (NHS
Improvement, 2016). The main role that the NHS has is to set priorities that put professionals in the
right direction towards the way they should be improving care across England, they work in
correspondence with multi-agency teams and with the government to implement policy from the
statistics that are being collected (gilliankenny, 2019). For Covid-19 the NHS would record the data,
via the track and trace app to identify who had covid, and producing statistics of how many in the UK
had the virus and whether this was decreasing overtime (BBC news, 2020).
Health Education England supports the delivery of good quality care, this has the aim of ensuring
that there are the appropriate number of professionals, with skills and behaviours learnt to be
competent when delivering care which overall helps to improve the health of the public (Health
Education England, 2019). The role of Health Education England is to look over and observe the
training within the workforce to ensure that it is competent, they will create continuing professional
development for professionals to they are knowledgeable of new research that has been done that
can impact the treatment they are getting to improve the health of the public (Department of
Health, n.d.). For Covid-19 this would be giving volunteers and professionals training so that they are
knowledgeable on adapting their current approach to help support and care for individuals
becoming seriously ill and going to the intensive care unit for treatment, in addition to this it would
be for the volunteers to be knowledgeable on how to give people the PCR tests in a safe approach
without putting themselves or others at risk (elearning for healthcare, 2022).
Public health policy is influenced by identifying health needs and determining how the health of the
public can be improved, for example looking at high pollution areas and landfills in areas and
understanding how they can plan to overcome these areas and improve the health of people living
in these areas. For example, in Gloucestershire, there are city areas where the landfill is placed and
has been proven by the health protection agency that it has affected the health of these individuals
via sulphur dioxide affecting the airways of the individual and possibly causing tumours on the skin,
lung and other parts of the body. It has also been known that emissions of methane and carbon
dioxide inhalation caused by plastics and landfill sites have caused the cardiorespiratory failure
(Health protection agency, 2011) and so it is important to put in place policies that reduce this. This
might be controlling what is allowed on these sights and changing the way these materials are
disposed of, for example recycling centres in the UK, melt the plastics and create something new
with them meaning that there is no waste and that the public’s health is thought about holistically
(Greenpeace UK, 2021). Campaigns such as use, reuse, and recycle also promotes this cycle to focus
on improving the health of the planet and put in place measures to reduce plastic creation, with
biodegradable materials in use, this is more expensive although it means that that it can be
disintegrated making it more sustainable and healthier for the environment (County Borough
Council, 2022). It is overall creating 36,000 deaths annually (England NHS, 2020) and so using these
biodegradable materials will reduce this significantly and the health of the public through these
strategies will help to ensure this is minimised and the NHS will become less overwhelmed with
patients requiring support with health conditions relating to this.
Developing programmes to reduce risk and screen for early signs is was an important strategy that is
used in public health as it ensures early intervention can be put in place to avoid further
complications. The screening that can be done is be breast screenings, and the use of this it really
important as it can help an individual get treatment quicker, for example if an individual has breast
cancer they can be given the appropriate therapy’s, like chemotherapy or radiotherapy to kill off the
Kirsty McAlpine
5226795
By Kirsty Mcalpine
Kirsty McAlpine
5226795
,Public health is the science which promotes good health and hygiene as well as preventing disease
(Royal College of Nursing, 2018). This is using a public health policy to ensure that this is in place and
to ensure the aims are being met. This policy uses a combination of legislation, regulations, and
community outreach to help meet these goals in order to create a society where the health and
wellness of the community is promoted. An example of this might be suggesting eating 5 fruit and
vegetables per day, this is based on scientific evidence that eating a significant amount of fruit and
vegetables will boost immunity and help with fighting infections in the body. The public health policy
within this would be to promote this within the community, this could be through many things like,
the internet, for example, social media or through health campaigns for weight loss, for example
slimming world, this then will be spread by the human word so that others are more aware of what
can help improve their health. Implementing policy is important due to the fact they produce a guide
for everyone to follow to successfully meet the aims that are set (Kelly, 2020), and for public health
policy, this would be to promote the health of the public. This meets the aims of ensuring the
fairness and impartial health service as it monitors the needs of the population, this could be via
national health surveys to look how health is improving to create a more healthy population and
over time understand how life can be prolonged. In addition, looking at the information that the
ublic like to share will also meet this aim as it helps them to be fair and empowers the public when
distributing information of which they use to promote health.
The strategies
The first strategy that is used is identifying the health needs, and making a policy that is relevant.
This is initially a responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care as they have a role of
looking at the population to alter and change policies which helps to meet their aims of living a mor
independent life for longer (nao, 2018), as it is more up to date with the current research that has
been done within the health of the public. Health and social care information centre is the providers
that provide standards within the IT infrastructure to help patients more efficiently and create better
health outcomes for patients. One of the main roles that they have within strategy 1 is to predict
health trends, monitor the effects of health from new treatments and comparing care from different
areas of the country. This ensures that care is given in the best way possible, and that early
intervention can be put in place to put measures in place to avoid further health problems (Chris
Salmon, 2021). Within covid, this was to look at the symptoms and the severity of symptoms relating
to covid, and making a policy which suggested people to record this on the ZOE app or the NHS covid
app for them to be able to understand; the policy was to stay at home and isolate, especially at the
start this was vital as the UK cases rose from 79 cases on the 6th March 2020 to 62,352 just a year
later, with deaths at this time at 1,041. Which overall, shows how deadly the virus was and how
necessary it was to implement policy into covid to help reduce this, as both herd immunity and the
isolation made cases increase 194,615 but deaths reduce to 231 (Our World in Data, 2022b) from
the weaker straits of the virus.
NHS digital strategy makes is more efficient for individuals to get involved in their care, this is by
working in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS
Improvement to ensure that patients can have a better experience, this is by collecting data statistics
from NHS service users and aims to enhance the knowledge professionals have of patient care and
treatment. It also allows professionals to communicate their expertise so that professions give
appropriate treatment and make correct diagnosis (NHS Digital, 2018). The roles of NHS digital are to
collect and disseminate data to make the information available for external organisations, this has a
goal of maximising accessibility whilst maintaining dignity and privacy of service users and
professionals when keeping information confidential (NHS digital, 2013).
Kirsty McAlpine
5226795
, NHS England is the service that provides good quality care to the public with the aim of improving
their health and treating patients with dignity and respect, as well as continually improving the care
that they are providing through building a broader knowledge of education within the sector (NHS
Improvement, 2016). The main role that the NHS has is to set priorities that put professionals in the
right direction towards the way they should be improving care across England, they work in
correspondence with multi-agency teams and with the government to implement policy from the
statistics that are being collected (gilliankenny, 2019). For Covid-19 the NHS would record the data,
via the track and trace app to identify who had covid, and producing statistics of how many in the UK
had the virus and whether this was decreasing overtime (BBC news, 2020).
Health Education England supports the delivery of good quality care, this has the aim of ensuring
that there are the appropriate number of professionals, with skills and behaviours learnt to be
competent when delivering care which overall helps to improve the health of the public (Health
Education England, 2019). The role of Health Education England is to look over and observe the
training within the workforce to ensure that it is competent, they will create continuing professional
development for professionals to they are knowledgeable of new research that has been done that
can impact the treatment they are getting to improve the health of the public (Department of
Health, n.d.). For Covid-19 this would be giving volunteers and professionals training so that they are
knowledgeable on adapting their current approach to help support and care for individuals
becoming seriously ill and going to the intensive care unit for treatment, in addition to this it would
be for the volunteers to be knowledgeable on how to give people the PCR tests in a safe approach
without putting themselves or others at risk (elearning for healthcare, 2022).
Public health policy is influenced by identifying health needs and determining how the health of the
public can be improved, for example looking at high pollution areas and landfills in areas and
understanding how they can plan to overcome these areas and improve the health of people living
in these areas. For example, in Gloucestershire, there are city areas where the landfill is placed and
has been proven by the health protection agency that it has affected the health of these individuals
via sulphur dioxide affecting the airways of the individual and possibly causing tumours on the skin,
lung and other parts of the body. It has also been known that emissions of methane and carbon
dioxide inhalation caused by plastics and landfill sites have caused the cardiorespiratory failure
(Health protection agency, 2011) and so it is important to put in place policies that reduce this. This
might be controlling what is allowed on these sights and changing the way these materials are
disposed of, for example recycling centres in the UK, melt the plastics and create something new
with them meaning that there is no waste and that the public’s health is thought about holistically
(Greenpeace UK, 2021). Campaigns such as use, reuse, and recycle also promotes this cycle to focus
on improving the health of the planet and put in place measures to reduce plastic creation, with
biodegradable materials in use, this is more expensive although it means that that it can be
disintegrated making it more sustainable and healthier for the environment (County Borough
Council, 2022). It is overall creating 36,000 deaths annually (England NHS, 2020) and so using these
biodegradable materials will reduce this significantly and the health of the public through these
strategies will help to ensure this is minimised and the NHS will become less overwhelmed with
patients requiring support with health conditions relating to this.
Developing programmes to reduce risk and screen for early signs is was an important strategy that is
used in public health as it ensures early intervention can be put in place to avoid further
complications. The screening that can be done is be breast screenings, and the use of this it really
important as it can help an individual get treatment quicker, for example if an individual has breast
cancer they can be given the appropriate therapy’s, like chemotherapy or radiotherapy to kill off the
Kirsty McAlpine
5226795
