Unit 12 – Historical Perspectives of the Health System

P1: Describe key aspects of public health strategies
P2: Describe the origins of public health policy in the UK from the 19th century to the present day

Public Health is about helping everyone to stay healthy rather than focusing specifically on the individual, with the aim to promote health, protecting individuals from threats to their health and preventing ill-health.
Public health policies have made a significant impact in increasing a person's overall life expectancy and improving health. (Public Health)

PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGIES:

Public health strategies are devised in order to prevent the spread of diseases, prolong life and promote health. This can be done through the use of monitoring, identifying, developing programmes etc.

Monitoring the health status of the community – Is a key aspect of health strategies that are in place within the UK. This health strategy helps to monitor any changes that occur in the health of the population, along with alerting individuals to any potential problems.

Health throughout the UK is monitored by quality of life, infant mortality rates and life expectancy (Baker L, 2008, BTEC National Health and Social Care Book 2, page 2) The monitoring of health throughout the country allows for advanced planning of local services within the community that may be at risk of certain health problems. The monitoring of health at a local level allows for information to be recorded before being compared to the health of other communities across the country. Local information on health is an important aspect as it is collected on a geographical basis throughout the UK, for example vaccination rates, hospital admissions etc. This is one way on health can be monitored, as in the cases of other communities they may have higher incidence rates of certain diseases whereas