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BTEC Level 3 Health and Social Care Unit 8 Promoting Public Health Assignment
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BTEC Level 3 Health and Social Care Unit 8 Promoting Public Health Assignment. Distinction Achieved. Referenced.
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Tahseen Al-Zahra50554530
Task 1
In this part of the report I will examine strategies for developing public health policies to
improve the health of individuals and the population. I will also examine the factors
affecting health and the impact of addressing these factors to improve public health.
P1. Explain the Strategies Used to Develop Public Health Policy in Order for it to
Meet its Aims
M1. Analyse how Public Health Policy is Influenced by Strategies and Patterns of
Health and ill Health
Public health involves assisting individuals with their health and minimising difficulties
that might prevent people from being healthy or pose a risk to public health and welfare,
for example, an individual's location may have an influence on the type and quality of
health received. Improving people's health and well-being includes three domains:
health promotion, which entails health education and commissioning services to meet
specific health needs. It can also include improving people's health, such as assisting
people with smoking and drinking addiction and issues. Prevention is a strategy which
entails reducing the incidence of ill health by supporting healthier lifestyles for
individuals. Protection includes surveillance and monitoring of infectious disease, as
well as emergency response and immunisation. Public health is progressively appearing
in the media, increasing its exposure to more individuals as well as providing individuals
with a better understanding of the public's health. 1
The Beveridge report, which was submitted to the British parliament in 1942, was
written by Sir William Beveridge. Its goal was to eliminate 'desire' and poverty in Britain.
The report emphasises how vital it is for Beveridge to desire to put an end to 'want' as
he repeats the 'abolition of want' throughout his report. At the end of the conflict, the
report was offered to the British people. This was a bad time for healthcare services,
therefore meaning the report was not a priority at the time, which implies that very little
time and effort was put into it. It also meant that inequality expanded as a result of a lot
of people's unemployment; moreover, unemployment meant that the number of
individuals able to receive healthcare reduced as lower-income individuals couldn't
afford it. Childbirth rates decreased as a result of a shortage of transportation and
insufficient delivery conditions, and the life expectancy for a newborn infant was low.
Because of a population decline, Beveridge says it is critical to guarantee safe maternity
care and invest more on infant care. After the war, Sir William Beveridge established a
new system which permitted free health care services through taxation, which initiated
the welfare state, that offers free health care services, social security, council housing,
employment, and free education, and this established the NHS in 1948. This meant that
individuals were safeguarded "from the cradle to the grave," and marked the beginning
of a solid health-care system to which everyone had access to. 2
1 (NHS choices 2020)
2 (WW2 People's war - Timeline 2020)
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The NHS is a free healthcare service that began operations on July 5, 1948, with the
goal of providing free treatment to all, regardless of their status or wealth. This method
was created because prominent figures spoke out against the healthcare system's
ineffectiveness due to a lack of effort put into healthcare. Mediaeval methods, such as
the poor law system, were employed as early as the 1900s. The poor law system
entailed removing poor people off the street and providing them with low-paying jobs in
order to reduce the expense of caring for them. The poor were frequently housed in
workhouses where they were fed and clothed, but they still lived in deplorable
conditions in which some families were split up or people were compelled to remain in
the workhouse in order to receive any health treatment. Furthermore, the maltreatment
in the workhouse sparked riots, forcing governments to make improvements. Prior to
the establishment of the NHS, everyone in need of medical treatment had to pay for it.
Following the war, those wounded needed to be cared for, causing turmoil in hospitals
and highlighting the problems with healthcare systems at the time. This prompted the
minister of health to take action, which included utilising health policy to guarantee that
everyone had access to health care. The Beveridge report included recommendations
that helped shape the standards for the NHS. There have recently been increasing
disputes surrounding funding and demand for the service. Free healthcare may have
appeared out of reach in the past, but in this day and age, we cannot assume it does
not exist.
The department of health is in charge of satisfying people's needs in England by
identifying them and executing plans to meet those requirements. Strategy 1 aims to
identify health needs and enhance population health by developing risk-reduction
programmes and screening for early illness. The goal of this method is to determine the
requirements of people in a certain location, such as Plymouth. Plymouth has a shorter
life expectancy than the rest of England, owing to a greater rate of disease transmission
in the city, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. This might imply that individuals
are not being screened frequently. Because the prevalence of this disease in Plymouth
is substantially greater than the national norm, it may result in earlier mortality;
moreover, Plymouth has a lower life expectancy compared to the national average.
People under the age of 75 are more prone to get cancer cardiovascular disease in
Plymouth. The NHS recommends individuals over the age of 40 get screened for
vascular dementia since cardiovascular illness can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Public health professionals can help by boosting the number of individuals who go for
check-ups to reduce the chance of death from cardiovascular disease. There would
need to be support in place for individuals with cardiovascular disease because it can
lead to severe illnesses such as stroke and heart attack; to avoid this, measures to
enhance population health would have to be in place. Due to the high risk of
cardiovascular disease, Plymouth has implemented methods such as free heart health
exams and lifestyle evaluations for residents, therefore reducing the risk of early
illness.3 Furthermore, Plymouth helps patients with cancer by utilising facilities such as
the Macmillan Mustard Tree Cancer Support Centre, which can offer cancer support.
The second strategy is to plan and evaluate the national provision of health and social
care target setting, to both local and national provision, which include department of
3 (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), Local Authority Health Profiles 2020)
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health research into many disciplines related with national health. They also collaborate
with other organisations to prepare for epidemics and put plans in place to assist in
such circumstances. Agencies also conduct peer reviews in which expert opinions are
used to enhance healthcare strategies. When preparing for an epidemic, the
government will need to collect information on the present trajectory of the disease in
order to construct a flexible strategy for the future. The NHS implemented a system in
2013 called review and action plan to avoid unnecessary deaths such as 'smoking, high
blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and alcohol
use'. Cancer will have to be prioritised in public health policy since it is the leading
cause of death in the UK and has become a problem for both the NHS and the
government. The NHS has developed a comprehensive approach to reduce the risk of
developing it. For example, by raising awareness regarding the need to encourage
physical activity, healthy eating, and attempting to reduce the number of smokers by
putting procedures in place to make them aware that there are services available to
assist them in quitting. This indicates that they are achieving strategy 1 by ensuring and
planning that services are provided to local governments to guarantee that objectives
are fulfilled and that provisions are used to manage the public's health care. Provision
planning guarantees that it is setting out to discover critical issues that PHE considers to
be priorities. Other organisations, such as the NHS, can work together with local
governments to aid people's health all across the nation, improve their health and
eliminate disparity in health care. As a result, this would be planning for national
healthcare provision and encouraging population health since elements such as
people's various lifestyles and education must be considered when considering the care
of the population.4
The third method is to minimise the negative effects of environmental variables such as
waste management, food safety, recycling and pollution reduction, and food safety. This
involves the department of environment, food, and rural affairs, whose role has a
significant impact on the population's everyday requirements such as the air we inhale,
the food we consume, and the water we drink, all of which have the potential to spread
illness.
Pollution Reduction:
Air pollution harms the ecosystem and can have long-term effects on people's health,
including reducing life expectancy. To address this issue, many measures have been
explored, such as lowering public transport fares and raising care petrol costs to
encourage more people to ride buses. The Department of Environment, Food, and
Rural Affairs (Defre) collaborates with the Air Quality Strategy to mitigate environmental
damage. The environmental law seeks to minimise air pollution in order to safeguard
the environment and animals as well. It also seeks to reduce waste and the emission of
pollutants such as sulphur dioxide from fossil fuels. The 'polluter pays' idea will be used,
which will need the people to be urged to make decisions that will assist in achieving an
improved environment. This suggests that they are accomplishing strategy 4's goal of
protecting society from health hazards by promoting legislation that protects individuals
from damage. The 25-year plan, for example, assures that there is a goal to minimise
4 (Health, U.K. Department of Health 2023)
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greenhouse gas emissions and employ more sustainable resources to safeguard
individuals from hazards.
Recycling and Waste Management:
Recycling is vital since it aids in the preservation of the planet's environments. If
materials are not recycled, they can have an environmental impact by accumulating
waste, causing loss of habitat and harm. This is why it is essential to manage waste by
collecting disposed waste and monitoring how it is disposed of, because materials may
produce toxic substances which are harmful to the public's health and may also result in
waste congestion, which can lead to further damage to habitats and the wellness of
individuals. This indicates that they are meeting strategy 5, which is to address national
health problems over time. For example, people in the United Kingdom are at a higher
risk of developing cancer, but burning plastic releases the toxic substance dioxin into
the environment, which can affect the body's immune system and cause cancer,
affecting the health of individuals in the long run. This implies that if materials are not
disposed of properly, they might cause harm to individuals. As a result, it is critical for
the government to handle this issue alongside environmental authorities to guarantee
that companies implement plans to ensure recycling is carried out within the
environment, as well as that organisations respect environmental permits. For example,
if a company is going to release poisonous gas or discharge waste in any way that
could harm the population, they will need an environmental permit to do so. This is
essential as it monitors waste production in companies, allowing government and
environmental organisations to make efforts to put additional measures in place to
protect the environment. Recycling is also vital for preserving the earth's resources and
habitats for future generations.5
Food Safety
Food safety is critical to public health because food must be handled appropriately to
avoid disease transmission. If food is not cooked or kept properly, it raises the risk of
illness caused by foodborne contaminants. Food safety is significant because it teaches
people how to handle food safely, which is crucial in preventing food-borne illness. The
Food Safety Administration (FSA) guarantees that food is safe. They also collaborate
with Wales and Northern Ireland to guarantee that food standards are met. They check
that food has an expiration date, that components are labelled, and that the ratio of
different goods is correct. Companies can additionally offer cooking instructions on
some products, such as how long you should cook meat in the oven as well as how to
store it. This type of information is essential for this type of product because
undercooked meat can cause diseases such as salmonella, so labelling instructions are
important to prevent foodborne disease. This indicates they are achieving strategy 4's
goal of protecting society from health dangers by enacting food hygiene regulations. It
guarantees that public health is protected in order to avoid the spread of food poisoning
and disease.
5 (Discharges to surface water and groundwater: Environmental permits 2020)
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