E-health is the next big thing for public health. For sometime, we have had m-health (i.e. use of mobiles in providing healthcare, such as appointment reminders and triaging of flu) and telemedicine (e.g. consultations with specialists over webcam). But with the rise of the silver surfer, internet usage amongst the over 65s in relation to e-health has increased enormously. It is estimated that only 7% of over 65s have online social networking profiles but already a large number of long term condition support groups (stroke, cancer etc) have sprung up consisting of the older demographic. Twitter has also seen older generations taking to the medium at a fatest rate than any other age group. In the US, social networking sites (e.g. Eons, Multiply) have been set up targeting greying internet users. Closer to home, the Department of Health commissioned a project 'Wired for the Third Age' that concluded that many older users of the internet use blogs and social networking sites to get in touch and that this provided a sense of community and engagement amongst users. There was potential to also support carers, particularly those caring for people with dementia. With the continuing recession, public health practitioners will need to consider e-health in relation to developing a different model of providing care for older people's health.
Posted October 2009
The term 'migrants' is used to refer to people with a wide range of different types of status. Migrants include asylum seekers, refugees, family migrants, international students, refused asylum seekers, trafficked persons and undocumented migrants. Approximately 8% of the UK population was born abroad and every year thousands of migrants from all over the world travel to and from the UK. As you can imagine, with such a diverse group there is a wide range of issues that needs to be dealt with in terms of public service provision. Public health work is ongoing and there are some exciting opportunities for public health trainees to undertake in this field. An example of migrant health can be found at www.migrationyorkshire.org.uk.
Posted May 2009
The latest craze sweeping through PCTs is commissioning the services of the voluntary sector. The voluntary sector has traditionally received either core funding or had contracts with the statutory sector. This was compounded by grants, private investment and income generated from consultancy, fundraising or running charity shops. However, funding from PCTs had been problematic with PCT funding tending to be renewed yearly. This made it hard for the voluntary sector to plan their services and to get and keep staff. Moreover, they spent a lot of their time focusing on securing funding. With 46% of VCS organisations already delivering public services yet only 10% held PCT delivery contracts, it was time for Public Health to review this situation. Throughout the country, contracts with the voluntary sector are being improved. A good example can be found at here
Posted March 2009
A new website is being developed to support career, skills and training in public health. Funded by the Department of Health (and its devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the online resource will offer a one-stop-shop on career opportunities in UK public health. Kicking off in Autumn 2009, the website will include information on 80 public health roles and careers, spanning a range of levels, disciplines and settings. Users will be able to surf first hand accounts of career progression of different public health personnel and can find out about specific public health careers in terms of qualifications needed, pay scales and job descriptions. There will also be a guide on how to get started in public health and sign posts to useful resources. For more information, see the Public Health Resource Unit website.
Updated October 2009
Public health professionals play an important role in commissioning services for the National Health Service (NHS) but often they have to act in isolation. This can lead to a duplication of effort, particularly when assessing new treatments. There is also a lack of database for checking if another primary care organisation has tackled a similar problem in the past.
A new website is being developed to act as a central internet forum and document store. It is open to all public health professionals involved in NHS commisioning. The intention is to develop a new public health commissioning network for England. This formal national network could address current deficiencies in the organisation of commissioning services for public health, including sharing knowledge with local government on commissioning topics relevant to both local government and public health (e.g. housing, transport). Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and World Class Commissioning processes also require improved knowledge sharing between PCTs and local authorities and would benefit from an infrastructure to share and learn from experiences throughout the country.
Check out www.nks.nhs.uk/commissioning.net and PHCN.pdf for more details.
Updated 2009
Views expressed in this website are those of the author only. It is not associated with the National Health Service (NHS) or any other public bodies.