Can directors of public health implement the new public health agenda in primary care? A case study of Primary Care Trusts in the North West of England

Abstract Introduction When local councils took on responsibility for public health in England in 2013, leaders from across the north of England met to consider the scale of the challenge. As a result, Public Health England commissioned the Due North Report which outlined new approaches in tackling health inequalities. This second paper outlines what has been learnt in five years as a case study. This includes influencing devolution deals and new elected city mayors, planning for economic growth in deprived areas and developing community asset-based approaches. The paper outlines a new framework for place-based planning to reduce health inequalities. Sources of data Data was gathered from annual reports from north of England directors of public health, Office for National Statistics, Public Health England’s fingertips database and regional and national publications and strategies such as the Northern Powerhouse. Areas of agreement Devolution to English cities and councils as ‘places’ is a new opportunity to address local needs and inequalities. Due North has supported a new public health narrative which locates health action in the most fundamental determinants—how local economies are planned, jobs created and power is to be transferred to communities and connects reducing years of premature ill health to increased economic productivity. Community asset approaches to empower local leaders and entrepreneurs can be effective ways to achieve change. Areas of controversy The north–south divide in health is not closing and may be worsening. Different ways of working between local government, health and business sectors can inhibit in working together and with communities. Growing points Place-based working with devolved powers can help move away from top down and silo working, empower local government and support communities. Linking policies on health inequalities to economic planning can address upstream determinants such as poverty, homelessness and unsafe environments. Areas timely for developing research More research is needed on; (i) addressing inequalities at scale for interventions to influence community-led change and prosperity in deprived areas, and (ii) the impact of devolution policy on population health particularly for deprived areas and marginalised group. Discussion and conclusions Commissioning high profile reports like Due North is influential in supporting new approaches in reducing inequality of health through local government, elected mayors; and working with deprived communities. This second paper describes progress and lessons.

Download Full-text

Occupational health nurses' perceptions of their education and training needs to meet the new public health agenda using the nominal group technique

International Journal of Lifelong Education ◽

10.1080/02601370110059500 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 314-325 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Margaret Bamford ◽

Judith Warder

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Nominal Group Technique ◽

Training Needs ◽

Nominal Group ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Nurses Perceptions ◽

And Training ◽

Health Agenda

Download Full-text

MEDICAL AUXILIARIES AND THE NEGOTIATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN COLONIAL NORTH-WESTERN TANZANIA

The Journal of African History ◽

10.1017/s0021853713000716 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 54 (3) ◽

pp. 393-416 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Mari Webel

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Colonial Power ◽

Public Health Interventions ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

North Western ◽

Western Tanzania

AbstractThis article investigates the development and employment of African medical auxiliaries during the German campaign against sleeping sickness in colonial north-western Tanzania. A case study from the kingdom of Kiziba demonstrates how widespread illness and colonial public health interventions intersected with broader political and social change in the early twentieth century. Ziba auxiliaries known as gland-feelers operated within overlapping social and occupational contexts as colonial intermediaries, royal emissaries, and familiar local men. The changing fortunes of the campaign and its auxiliaries illustrate how new public health interventions became a means for the kingdom's population to engage with or avoid both royal and colonial power.

Download Full-text

The new public health imposed and its missing links - people, cultures, anthropology, health for all

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.185 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

S Špoljar Vržina

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

The Public ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Entry Points ◽

Long Term Follow Up ◽

Critical Medical Anthropology ◽

Health Agenda

Abstract Critical medical anthropology has been active throughout the decades (Baer, Susser, Singer 1986; Lock, Nichter, 2002; Lupton, 1995. 2000, 2015) in proving that public health is not only an addition to equations of equity in health care but rooted in cultures of people globally (Špoljar Vržina 2003, 2007, 2008; 2011, 2013, 2021; Špoljar Vržina, Rudan, 2009). Italian anthropologist codified the postmodern 'doing good only in states of emergencies' (Pandolfi, 2010). In times of Corona Covid 19 -2020 epidemiological freights we are urged to take this further into account, especially since witnessing racial stigmatizing on the basis of ethnicity and nationality. Paradoxically, Italy as one of the cradles of quarantines is facing the potential permanent closure of neighbouring borders rather than experiencing a historically practiced cooperation, as in the case with Croatia, over centuries (Blažina, Blažina 2015). If there should be a New Public Health (Baum 2016, 2019; Lupton 1997, 2000) it should be recalibrated by anthropological findings that re- focus towards the good of people, cultures and their cooperation. The work of this paper presents this urgent challenge. This anthropological research is a long-term follow up of Croatian medicine system dismantling (Špoljar Vržina, 2008 onwards) through a continuous analyses of micro (people), intermediary (governmental) and macro (international) changes (Bear et al. 1986), departures from functioning for the benefit of people and finding entry points for ethical corrective interventions. The analysis proved an existing switch of the public health paradigm from global health into states of neoliberal sickness, with clear possibilities of returning to 'health for all' if disengaging from the politics of culture/public health. Public health enhancements need to be based on the recalibration towards knowledges of populational and cultural realities. Key messages Reintroducing the ‘innovative’ wisdom of doing good for all regardless of emergencies is the core of a new public health agenda. The new public health agenda is based on recognizing cultures as pillars of communities and global societies that matter.

Download Full-text