The Role of Public Health in Health and Social Care

This article discusses the role of public health in improving overall health and protecting the population from diseases. It explores the role of different agencies in identifying levels of diseases in communities, statistical data related to infectious and non-infectious diseases, and the effectiveness of approaches and strategies for controlling diseases. It also examines the use of research to determine priorities and approaches for providing services to infected people, the relationship between disease prevalence and service requirements, and the impact of current lifestyle choices on future needs for health and social care services.

The Role of Public
Health in Health and
Social Care

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Role of different agencies to identify levels of diseases in communities.............................3
1.2 Statistical data related to infectious and non-infectious disease...........................................4
1.3 Effectiveness of approaches & strategies for controlling diseases.......................................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Use of research to determine priorities and approaches to provide services to infected
people..........................................................................................................................................6
2.2 Relationship between prevalence of disease and service requirements................................6
2.3 Impact of current lifestyle choices on future needs for health and social care services.......7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Assessing the health and well being priorities for individuals..............................................8
3.2 Evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies, systems and policy under health and social
care set-up...................................................................................................................................8
3.3 Changes one can make to improve one health......................................................................9
3.4 Particular activity which has directly effected to encourage behavioural changes...............9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Public health is concerned with improving the overall health of the population and
protecting them from any health related issues through public based health promotion and
implication of public health policies. This helps in protecting the society from illness, diseases
and injuries so that overall public care can be ensured. In order to effectively monitor and
manage the services related to health care, the government public health agencies play an
important role in formulating guidelines which can help in protecting the society from infectious
and non-infectious diseases (Ascherio and Schwarzschild, 2016). A proper health analysis done
by these agencies can help in evaluating the risk related to particular disease and the reasons of
their cause. The responsibility for maintaining and improving public health lies with all sectors
of the society which can create a healthy and safe environment for all. Through this report
different strategies and approaches that can be used to control and monitor diseases will be
discussed along with the implication of illness and diseases on communities. Further factors that
influence health and well-being of individuals in social care will be discussed.
LO 1
1.1 Role of different agencies to identify levels of diseases in communities
Various agencies both at local and international levels work towards welfare of the
society by determining the health standards and analysing the key issues that influence health of
individuals and communities. Through regular research, data related to health issues are collected
so that proper guidelines can be formed and measures can be taken to prevent diseases from
spreading and promote healthy life style among people which can help in prolonging the life of
population. Assessment and monitoring of health related issues need to be regularly done so that
protection and prevention measures can be taken to ensure health and safety of people in society.
Healthy nation can go ahead on the path of development and prosper in the global competitive
scenario. Different agencies work at various levels so as to prevent and control diseases which re
discussed as follows :
 World Health Organisation (WHO) : It works at the international level and plays an
important role in monitoring and enforcing norms and standards for the countries so that
diseases can be removed and public health can be maintained. WHO analyse the

conditions of people around the globe and provides essential support by offering funds
and technology to improve health conditions of people (Bailey and et. al., 2017).
 Public Health England : It is an executive agency of the Department of Health in UK
which was formed as a result of reorganisation of National Health Service (NHS). It is a
leading public sector health care agency which has the authority to take decisions
regarding improvement and protection of nation's health and ensure well-being by
reducing health related inequalities. They give advices to government and support it so
that such policies and laws can be formed in the country which reduces the spreading of
disease and improving the conditions of social healthcare services.
 Other local government authorities : They run in local regions and get support from the
government and help in gathering statistical data related to conditions in which people
live. They provide information related to various diseases and medical facilities that are
available to people at local regions. This can help to overcome the negative impact of
infectious and non-infectious diseases on population.
1.2 Statistical data related to infectious and non-infectious disease
Diseases can be divided majorly in infectious and non-infectious diseases depending on
the way they spread among the people. Diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi are called
infectious diseases whereas non-infectious diseases arise due to dietary deficiencies or heredity
conditions and are non-communicable. Examples of infectious and non-infectious diseases that
are found in UK are :
 Breast cancer : It is a disease mainly found in women and affects around 50,000 people
in UK along with men. Breast cancer develops in the breast tissue and may include a
lump in the breast, change in breast shape, dimpling on the skin etc. It is the third reason
which causes death due to cancer in UK. The number of patients that are affected by this
malignancy are increasing which is also increasing health issues in the population of UK.
 HIV : HIV is a virus which spreads by coming in the contact of infected body fluids
which attacks the immune system of the person which makes the body of person weak
and unable to fight even simplest of body infections and diseases. Around 1,03,800 are
diagnosed with HIV in UK. Increasing number of patients are facing deaths due to
increase in the spread of this disease (British HIV Association, 2019).

Epidemiology is the branch of medicine which studies how often diseases occur in
different groups of people and also studies the reasons behind such occurrence. It also analyses
the distribution, patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in population so that
corrective and protective measures can be taken to prevent the disease from spreading.
1.3 Effectiveness of approaches & strategies for controlling diseases
For preventing and controlling the spread of diseases in community it is important that
the healthcare agencies adopt certain strategies and approaches so that the condition of society
can be made better and health of the society can be maintained.
Approaches : In UK the agencies that are working towards improving the health of the
people are adopting various approaches so as to create awareness among the people to protect
and control the spread of diseases. Approaches followed by national Health Service are
providing guidelines to local healthcare institutes regarding the treatment of individuals in the
society and improving their health. They also monitor the health issues by regularly collecting
data related top people suffering from diseases. These approaches are effective in controlling the
diseases to a great extent as proper treatment is given to patients so that their health can be
improved (Fredriksen-Goldsen and et. al., 2014).
Strategies : The strategies of prevention is followed by health care agencies so that the
the population can be protected from the disease at the initial level. There are three categories of
prevention :Primary prevention is related to preventing the disease at the initial level before any
evidence of disease or injury such as use of vaccination. Secondary prevention tries to reduce the
number of cases of diseases by identifying the symptoms of occurrence of disease. Tertiary
prevention is related to taking actions so that the effect of diseases can be reduced and quality of
life can be improved. These strategies are effective in significantly controlling and monitoring
the spread of diseases (Cohen and Marshall, 2017).
LO 2
2.1 Use of research to determine priorities and approaches to provide services to infected people
There are a number of diseases that create a threat to the society and infected people
needs to be treated in an efficient manner so that spread of diseases can be controlled and
managed in UK. There are various priorities and approaches that are set up by the healthcare
agencies so that necessary treatment can be given to patients which are discussed as below :

 Prevention of disease : It is a technique which is used to prevent the occurrence of
disease at the initial level so that the incidence of patients can be decreased. Treatment is
done before the signs or symptoms of the disease occur. This can be done through
vaccination, following a proper diet chart, following hygienic practices etc. so that
occurrence of disease can be reduced (Defining Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention .2019).
 Treatment : It depends on the extent to which the disease has spread and the risk
associated with the disease. Proper treatment through medication needs to be given so
that the patient can be cured from the disease an a healthy lifestyle can be ensured fr the
person. Proper medical facilities needs to be given by the health institutes so that
conditions of patients can be improved in an effective manner.
 Palliative care : It is an interdisciplinary approach so that special medical and nursing
care can be given to severely ill patients and their families. This care focus on proving
relief from pain, symptoms, physical and mental stress of the patients at all the stages of
illness which will help in improving their quality of life.
 Remedial care : It means when medical care is provided by the licensed practitioners i.e.
other than physicians so that skills to manage and control the behaviours of individuals
can be taught to the patients so that they can live their lives in an effective manner
(Hafezi and et. al., 2019).
2.2 Relationship between prevalence of disease and service requirements
Prevalence is a statistical concept which gives the detailed information about the number
of cases of diseases that have occurred in a specific sample of population at a given period of
time. The service requirements of this affected population depends on the number of prevalence
of diseases that have occurred in the population so that appropriate strategies and policies can be
formulated to deal with the disease. For example HIV is a chronic disease which involves the
people becoming weak to fight against any diseases or infections and can even lead to the death
of the person. The healthcare agencies needs various tools and resources so that the problem of
HIV can be solved and the patients affected by HIV can be reduced. The service requirements
depend on the number of incidents of HIV patients so that appropriate funds can be arranged,
medical equipments and aids, doctors, therapies required etc. needs to be arranged depending on
the number of patients so that proper treatment can be given to each patient. Hence, there occurs

a direct relationship between the prevalence of disease and service requirements so that overall
healthcare and social care services can be given to patients. The welfare of HIV patients can be
achieved by maintaining an appropriate level of medical equipments, health care centres,
medicines etc. that are required for treating the patients (Solanas and et. al., 2014).
2.3 Impact of current lifestyle choices on future needs for health and social care services
Lifestyle of the people plays a very important role in keeping them healthy and fit. The
current lifestyle of people is becoming very busy and completely based on technology. This
reduces their focus on keeping themselves healthy and fit. Consumption of junk food and fast
food is increasing which creates the problem of obesity in the population of UK. Also the
consumption of alcohol and tobacco has increased which are increasing the cases of cancer
among the population. Smoking has increased which has increased the cases of asthmatic
patients (Watson, Preedy and Zibadi, 2018). The busy lifestyles of people leaves them no time to
exercise which adds on to their unhealthy lifestyle and increase patients having various diseases
and ailments. The current lifestyle choices requires following healthcare and social care services
in the future :
 Spreading the awareness among people about the impact of unhealthy lifestyle on their
mental and physical well-being that can make their immune system weak.
 Campaigning and advertising about how the spread of diseases can be prevented so that
people can take preventive actions and the number of cases of diseases can be decreased.
 Providing free medical treatments and good quality of services to the patients so that their
cure can be done at a rapid rate.
 Increasing the number of healthcare institutes so that more number of people can be
given healthcare and social care services.
 The availability of medical equipments, medicines, doctors etc. have to be maintained in
the proportion of prevalence of disease in the population.
LO 3
3.1 Assessing the health and well being priorities for individuals
Their are different factors are present in the society that impact on the health of a human
being. Similarly some other positive factors are also present in the society that can help to
prevent and protect the life of people. In this task various criteria are discuss and analysed in

order to implement the facts which are related with life of individuals such as physical,
psychological, socio economical and many more. This all are mention as follow: Physical factor- This includes the immune system, digestive system and hormonal
balances and the malfunctioning of other parts of human body. This all factors makes an
individual very weak and impacts on the different factors of a human body (Bradley and
et. al., 2016). Psychological factor- It includes various elements that are directly related and connected
with the human behaviour of the person. This determines the that the reaction and
respond are needed to examine by individual on all factors. Stress, anxiety and depression
are some of the major points which are related with psychological factor. Environmental factor- The environment factor is directly or indirectly related with
different parts of an individual and its surroundings. These undertakes polluted water and
air as well as chemicals that directly impacting on human life and environmental factors.
 Socio economical factor- This factor includes living standard of the person and daily
activities which are performed by organisation. It refers that all the changes whether
economical, environmental and personal are included in this. Like upper class person
easily buy all products whereas for middle class persons it is complex to buy high range
products.
3.2 Evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies, systems and policy under health and social care
set-up.
The major effectiveness that can be implemented in the strategies relates with various factors
like rules, regulations and procedure. In order to evaluate this all there are different services and
feedbacks are evaluated by feedbacks that are provided after the check up of patients. Along with
this there are several members are involved in the well-being of individual which all are inter-
connected with each other. In the context of changes that are related with organisation need to
implement those strategies which leads the organisation to perform their work with the new plans
and policies. This results it is easy for management to perform their work with more
effectiveness as it improves the performance of agency. The new changes needed to be
implemented by organisation need to be adopted by all the stakeholders. It results the
organisation performs their work with more efficiency because strategies are directly related with

the laws and people health. Moreover results of such strategies are effective and improves people
health in many societies (Hamborsky and Kroger, 2015).
3.3 Changes one can make to improve one health.
Their are various changes are implemented by the organisation need to be very effective
and also it is essential for management to perform their work according to the guidelines.
Moreover, there are different factors impacts on individual health among which the major part
relates with the attitude level of individual. It determines that it is the responsibility of an
individual to become self aware and to improve the health of people by guiding them to adopt
healthy life. The most effective factor that influences different people is related with the
psychological factor. Thus there are various changes will also be included in this report that
relates with thinking pattern of an individual. Here there are various factors will also improve the
image of the agency in the upcoming future. Most of the different functions which are related
with organisation and its performance comes to generate positive image in individual mind.
Along with this there are various consequences are also included that is related with healthcare
industry. Along with this different improvement which are performed by organisation leads the
management to complete different task by improving the performance of teams and individual.
Moreover, changes in the organisation relates with lifestyle and various care services helps the
agency to improve the general health of individual. Further, this services helps organisation to
increase the health of professional as they need to manage the work by considering different
factors in a high work pressure (Lewis, 2018).
3.4 Particular activity which has directly effected to encourage behavioural changes.
Their are different functions and actions are taken by the agency which can helps the
organisation to make correct implementation. As they all are related with the performance of
individual and their health. So it is mandatory for the individuals and the agencies to improve the
health of patients and other society persons. Along with this private as well as governmental
aspects need to develop those strategies that must relates with the enhancement of people health.
Their are various methods are present in organisation which helps agency to improve the health
of people. The most effective methods which are utilised by the agency is to visit various rural
areas that are done need to be perform the work in most effective manner. So that all the
individuals or people interact with the agency are totally educated and aware about the public
health of people. This results that it is easy for people to create awareness among whole society

to improve the health of society among all those areas which are visited by the agency (Preda
and Voigt, 2015).
CONCLUSION
From this report it can be concluded that for maintaining the public health it is important
to follow the guidelines provided by various healthcare agencies so that health can be ensured for
the population and lifestyle of people can be improved. Also regular research has to be done so
that the number of people who are affected with diseases can be known and appropriate
approaches and strategies can be formulated so as to deal with the spread of the diseases. The
prevention and control of spread of diseases can be done by evaluating the risk factors and taking
appropriate measures so that overall health of the population can be maintained.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Bradley, E. H and et. al., 2016. Variation in health outcomes: the role of spending on social
services, public health, and health care, 2000–09. Health Affairs. 35(5). pp.760-768.
British HIV Association, 2019. UK national guidelines for HIV testing. Public Health.
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inequities? A scoping review. Health & social care in the community. 25(2). pp.309-
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Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I and et. al., 2014. The health equity promotion model:
Reconceptualization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health
disparities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 84(6). p.653.
Hafezi, F. and et. al., 2019. Apparatus for the treatment and/or prevention of corneal diseases.
U.S. Patent 10,182,941.
Hamborsky, J. and Kroger, A. eds., 2015. Epidemiology and prevention of vaccine-preventable
diseases. Atlanta: US Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Lewis, J. ed., 2018. Gender, social care and welfare state restructuring in Europe. Routledge.
Preda, A. and Voigt, K., 2015. The social determinants of health: Why should we care?. The
American Journal of Bioethics. 15(3). pp.25-36.
Solanas, A and et. al., 2014. Smart health: a context-aware health paradigm within smart
cities. IEEE Communications Magazine. 52(8). pp.74-81.
Watson, R.R., Preedy, V.R. and Zibadi, S. eds., 2018. Polyphenols: Prevention and Treatment of
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Online
Defining Health Promotion and Disease Prevention .2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-promotion/1/definition>