Health Inequalities: A Report on Addressing Health and Social Care

This report addresses health inequalities in the UK, focusing on current public health issues such as obesity, accidents, smoking, pollution, and substance misuse. It explains how population data highlights health determinants and explores various intervention types, including primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions. The report details strategies to reduce disease incidence in local communities, the roles of statutory bodies like Public Health England, and the responsibilities of healthcare professionals in preventing and controlling the spread of disease, including infection control measures. Challenges faced by healthcare professionals, such as Clostridium Difficile and lack of education are also discussed. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing health inequalities for national growth and the need for unbiased and accountable health system arrangements.

Addressing Health Inequalities in Health &
Social Care
PART I

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
Living a healthy life is very important for human beings. Public health is the
science of protecting as well as improving the health of people and there
communities.
This work is accomplished by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease
and prevention of injury as well as detecting, preventing and responding to
infectious disease. Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in heath
status between groups, individuals or population and it has becomes the global
concern.
Across European Union, health inequalities are improved to some extent. The gaps
in income and wealth is reduced to the greatest extent after globalisation but still it
is not yet eliminated from the globe.

P.1 Current public health issues of United
Kingdom.
 Public health is the scientific
discipline of preventing as
well as improving the health
of people and there societies.
 This work is accomplished
by promoting healthy
lifestyles, investigating
disease and prevention of
injury as well as detecting,
preventing and responding
to infectious disease.

CONT…
Obesity: Excessive weight on body is
called as obesity. It is an infectious
disease, it is a condition in which
excessive accumulation of fat on the
body.
 This disease is putting strain on NHS
because every year the admission of
people is rising by 18 percent and it has
become growing concern.
 There are 63 percent's of adults in
England and quarter of children between
3 to 10 years who are suffering from
obesity.

Accidents:
It is the unfortunate incidents which happens
unexpectedly and unintentionally that results in injury or
damage.
Accidents could be any, like disasteral, workplace,
transportation, etc. In 2017, there were 1793 reported
accidents on road.
It has also becomes the greatest concern of UK as the
serious injuries and number of death are continuously
increasing.
There are many reason why the number of accidents are
continuously increasing such as driving very fats, not
following traffic rules, etc.

Smoking:
This is also another factors that contributed the to public
health issues in United Kingdom.
This is one of the biggest cause of illness as well as
death in UK as every year there are 78000 people who
dies from smoking.
It has become the greatest concern because there are 50
another risk which are associated with smoking.

Pollution:
This is another most critical factors which is contributing to
current public issues in United kingdom and it is one of the
biggest concern for health and social care settings especially
air pollution.
Air pollution is critical issues in UK as it leads both short
term and long term effect on public heath.

Substance and Alcohol misuse:
This is also one of the factor which is very critical to the
health of the people.
 Misuse of alcohol means consumption of alcohol that out the
person at high risk for adverse health and social consequences
and misuse of substance includes illicit drugs.

P.2 Explaining how population data is used to highlight health
determinants contributing to current health issues.
 It is true that Public health issues are the biggest concern of
UK because the rates of death from non-communicable as
well as communicable diseases are continuously increasing.
 Here are some statistical data of public health issues in UK
are as follows-

OBESITY

ACCIDENTS

SMOKING

POLLUTION

SUBSTANCES AND
ALCOHOL MISUSE

P.3 The different types of intervention used to address
the public health issues.
 There are different types of intervention which is very important to
address the public health issues which are as follows-
 Primary Intervention: Health promotion is the primary
intervention of public health issues.
 This is one of the best way to stop the disease before it get
developed or occurred. It aims to control the incidence of disease.
For example, vaccinations. But, the selected public health issues
are obesity, pollution, substances and alcohol misuse, smoking and
accidents.

Secondary Interventions:
 The main purpose of
secondary prevention is
tries intervene as well as
hopefully put an end of
disease before it is fully
developed.
 There is a slight different
in primary prevention and
secondary prevention as
primary is concerned with
preventing the onset of
issue whereas secondary
emphasise on reducing the
development of issue.

Tertiary Interventions:
 The main focus is to reduce the rehabilitation of individual who
have already been affected by a disease in order to prevent an
established disease from getting worse.

P.4 Different types of health intervention lead to measurable health
improvements on a local and national population
 Primordial Prevention: This is the
type of prevention that risk factors
beginning with the change in social
and environmental conditions in which
these factors are observed to develop
in the people.
 Population-based Interventions:
This is the type of intervention that
focus on bringing improvement in the
outcomes of health of individual,
group and society
 Individual Focused Intervention:
This is the type of intervention that
plays a key role in preventing any
diseases

P.5 Strategies aimed to reduce the incidence of diseases
in the local community.
 Obesity is one of the biggest concern of local community at UK
because quarter of population has suffered from obesity.
 Here are some strategies aimed to reduce the incidence of disease in
local community which are as follows-
 Low Glucose Intake:
 Children to walk:
 Increase for Gym:

P.6 The role of statutory bodies in developing
health protection strategies.
Healthy Lives,
Healthy People:
This is the strategies of
public health England
that is developed in
2011.
This is the strategy that is
driven by philosophy of
individual responsibility
for health.

Fair Society, Healthy Lives:
 The Marmot Review Report
into health inequalities in
England was published by 11
February 2010.
 The main intention of
organising this program is to
address the social determinants
of health, the condition in
which people are born, grow,
work, age and live and al these
are the factors that results in
health inequalities.

Cardiovascular Disease
Outcome Strategy This strategy was developed by the
government of United Kingdom in
order to bring improvement in
cardiovascular diseases of people
living in UK.
 This strategy was developed by the
combination of two health
department of UK which are NHS
and PHE.
 The main aim of this strategy is to
control on the mortality rates for
CVD by bringing improvement in
prevention, treatments and
diagnosis.

P.7 The roles of different healthcare professionals involved in the
prevention and control of the spread of disease.
It is true that healthcare professionals plays a vital role in the
prevention and control of spread of disease, if they are not
aware of spreading of disease, it is not possible to get on
control of public health issues.
 Following the Policies and Procedure: Policies includes
nursing, domiciliary care and learning disability services,
health and safety, regularly requirements and legal liabilities
as well as all other services which are essential for the health
of people.
 Giving Advice: This is another role which plays a very
important role as they should give advice to patient to live
healthy life.
 Resourcing Health Promotion Activities: Health promotion
activities are mainly organised for promoting health by
preventing the spreading of diseases

CONT
 Links with health promotion team: It is true that team
working makes the work more effective and efficient way.
 Developing Displays: There are many techniques by
which healthcare practitioners could raise the awareness of
disease through posters, Internet Of Things app and some
other applications and visual displays.
 Supporting Hygiene measure in practice: Hygiene
is the essence of healthcare organisation as without
cleanliness, it is not possible to control and prevent the
spread of disease.

P.8 The ways that healthcare professionals promote infection control.
Infections Control Measures:
 Barrier Nursing: This is one of the best
technique that healthcare professionals in order
to save medical staff against infections by
patients as well as also protect patients with
extremely infectious disease from spreading
there pathogens to other non-infected people.
 Vaccination and immunisation programs:
This is one of the measure that is very
important for healthcare professionals to look
over as they should organise programmes of
vaccination and immunisation at both urban
and rural areas and put efforts so that spreading
of disease could be control..
 Health and Safety: This is also one of the
prevention measures to control the spreading of
infectious disease

CONT…
 Promoting food Safety: Food safety is very important to remain free from
the infectious disease because contaminated food includes many bacteria,
fungi, viruses, protozoa and many other gems which is not good for the
health of the people.
 Education: This is another way to promote healthy life and control the
spreading of disease. Healthcare professionals should organise campaign
and encourage education so that people can understand the cause and
symptoms of infectious disease, so that society could leave healthy and
hygienic life.
 Role of Modelling Positive behaviour: Healthcare professionals should
behave a role model for the entire society individual, patients or families.
Role model is the person who serves an example that influence others and
for that they should be remain healthy and clean, so that others can seen
and learn.

M.4 Challenges for healthcare professionals in
preventing the spread of disease.
There are mainly three challenges that healthcare professionals faced in
preventing the spread of disease which are as follows-
 Clostridium Diffcile: Diarrhoea and C-diff have become a great
issues at hospitals as these are the most common and centrelines infections
that is very difficult to prevent in hospitals.
 Hand-washing: hand-washing is also one of the challenge that
healthcare professionals faced in preventing the spreading of disease. Staff
members as well as patients and there family members are not aware of
bacteria and germs in there hand as they used to ignore.
 Lack of Education: This is another challenge which mainly faced
by healthcare practitioners especially at rural areas. The level of education
is very less which has become one of the challenge to prevent the spreading
of disease.

CONCLUSION
 The above ppt comes to the conclusion that it is very important to
addressing the inequalities in health because it is directly
influencing the economy and growth of nation.
 In order to bring equality in health it is very important to have
active engagement in planning, implementation and regulation of
health system in order to make unbiased as well as accountable
arrangements which are address the needs of all member of society.
 Further, the factors which contribute to current public issues in
United Kingdom which are Obesity, Accidents, Smoking,
Substance and Alcohol misuse, Pollution

REFERENCES
Online:
 Obesity England. 2017. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/
SN03336>.
 Obesity Rates. 2017. [Online]. Accessed
through:<https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/
Summary/SN03336>.
Fatalities in Road Accidents. 2016. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/file/744077/reported-road-casualties-annual-
report-2017.pdf>.
 Number of Death due to Road Accidents. 2016. [Online]. Accessed
through:
<https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-
7615>.