ASS007-2 Global Public Health: A Case Study of the UK's Health System

This case study examines the public health landscape in the United Kingdom, focusing on prevalent health issues such as heart disease, cancer, and communicable diseases. It describes the UK's National Health Service (NHS), a government-sponsored universal healthcare system, and its structure, funding, and challenges, including an aging population and rising costs. The study assesses the UK's progress on health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting the government's commitment to embedding these goals into departmental planning and improving public health outcomes. The case study concludes by emphasizing the importance of public health strategies and the role of healthcare systems in ensuring equitable access to care and improved well-being for the UK population. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Global Public Health

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................3
Main health issues/challenges in United Kingdom............................................................................3
Healthcare system in United Kingdom..............................................................................................4
Health-related sustainable development (SDG) goals........................................................................6
...........................................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The concept of global public health refers to health of the population across nation in
order to improve the health and attaining assets in health for population over worldwide. It is
a place of study or research that makes a priority on enhancing health and also achieving
assets in health for people worldwide. It is because it quite essential to enhance people’s
health worldwide, approach the services regarding healthcare so as to achieve the goals. Its
main aim is to enhance the public health across nation by encouraging various healthcare
programs and abolish the disease which can be avoided. The global health can be achieved by
connecting the health promotions based on population and the disease prevention measures
with individual-level medical care. It may directly or indirectly affect the health across
nation. As the outbreak of communicable diseases may not only transmit from one country to
another but it may also affect the goods and services, trades and so on. Furthermore, global
health is in partnership with world health organization in order to obtain better health
outcomes. In this report there is a discussion about various health challenges which are faced
by the public of United Kingdom as it makes a negative impact over the public. In this report
it also covers information about various health care systems in the country which includes
somewhat free at the point of need and is paid for by the general taxation (Acton and
Hawkins, 2021).
MAIN BODY
Main health issues/challenges in United Kingdom.
The main health problems which are generally faced by the public of United Kingdom
includes the heart diseases, cancer, lungs, liver disorders, stroke. These such diseases are the
five major diseases which impact the most among public. Some of the other diseases which
are also included as a health concern among public in the country such as the physical
inactivity, lack of nutrition. In addition to this, some are also included such as overweight and
obesity, tobacco, substances abuse, the mental health issues, violence, the environmental
issues, and access to healthcare services. In context with health concern, to stay physically fit
or active can help to prevent the certain diseases such as cancers, heart disease as well as
diabetes. The physical activity can also relieve the depression and also enhance the mood.
The inactivity often accompanies the advancing age, but it doesn’t have to. Another leading
cause of the health concern among public is obesity or overweight. Being overweight can
elevate the death possibility from hypertension, type 2 diabetes, chronic heart disorders,
osteoarthritis, the respiratory disorder and so on. In addition to the well-being concern,
tobacco is the most single preventable cause of the illness as well as premature death among
the public of United Kingdom. It also includes some of the challenges which are faced by
national health services such as an ageing population, growing population, evolving the
wellness care requirements like elevation in case of obesity. It also includes challenges which
the national health services are facing includes the medical advancements that saves lots of
lives every year but it can push up the costs considerably. It also involves improvement in
dependence on the services which are privatised (Akkermans, 2018).

Another health concerns among the United Kingdom public includes communicable
disease, non-communicable disease and the well-being problems. These are grouped as the
intentionally or unintentionally injury in the United Kingdom. The communicable disease
here includes such as measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, flu, common cold and many
more. Measles is the highly infectious disease which can lead to serious well-being
consequences. In this, there is a significant development in the cases of measles across nation
due to the gaps in the coverage of vaccination. In a local area community, the cases are
observed by the wellness protection team at national health services. In this, it includes
symptoms such as fever, cold like symptoms, red eyes which may be sensitive to light. In
addition to this, the non-communicable disease includes such as neurological disorders,
respiratory disease, cardiovascular disorder, diabetes and many more. It is determined about 2
million population in the United Kingdom having a major neurological situation from which
about 600,000 are suffering from epilepsy and about 127,000 are suffering from Parkinson’s
disease. These disorders are more common in old age (Balakrishnan, 2017).
Another disease it includes as a health concern is osteoarthritis. It is a degenerative
disease of joints that causes pain as well as stiffness and will lead to a downfall in the
physical activity. This disorder is most common reason for hip or a knee replacement.
Healthcare system in United Kingdom.
In United Kingdom, the government has sponsored the universal well-being care
system generally known as the national health services (NHS). This national health services
includes a series of publicly funded wellness care sectors in the United Kingdom.
Government of United Kingdom has sponsored the universal wellness care sectors called the
national health services. The national services contain a series of publicly funded well-being
systems in the United Kingdom. It can involve the national well-being services in England,
Scotland as well as in Northern Ireland. All the citizens of United Kingdom are entitled to the
wellness care under these sectors, but they contain the option to buy a private wellbeing
insurance as well. The plans that are constructed by the national health services team are
more power and contains information about patients, more beds as well as hospitals, includes
Figure 1 Prevalence rates for Parkinson's disease in the UK

more healthcare professionals and the care providers. Their plan also involves the less
waiting times for daily appointments, it also constructed facilities for aged people by
improving the healthcare services. The well-being care system of United Kingdom is known
as one of the most effective system across world. It includes information about the
commonwealth fund report that looked upon five areas of the performance which involves
the quality, access to care, healthy living, an efficiency as well as equity. In United Kingdom,
it involves several programs in both rural and urban areas (The UK Health Care System,
2020).
The urban area programs include the department of health, primary care trusts, and
the strategic well-being authorities. The department of wellness is mainly responsible for
developing the well-being as well as wellness of the people. The national health services
primary care trusts are being established to develop the well-being of their local people, to
work jointly with a broad range of partner agencies, to commission services and to improve
the basic care services. The aim of the strategic health authorities contains ensuring that
national priorities for well-being are integrated into local strategies, building the capacity of
well-being services as well as ensuring the high-quality performance is found within the
health services.
Role of government: It involves the responsibility for well-being legislation as well as the
general policy in England rests with parliament, the secretary of state for wellness and the
health department. Its responsibilities include are as mentioned below:
 Management of national health services budget.
 Commissioning the various types of care, generally involves primary care in dental
care, the treatments for rare conditions as well as few public well-being services.
Figure 2 UK healthcare system.

 Setting up of strategic pathways of wellness info-technology that involves the
improvement of the online services to link with an appointment as well as setting of
the standards for maintaining the electronic medical records as well as preserving
them (Healthcare in the UK: a guide to the NHS, 2021).
Another essential public agency which are involved in the well-being governance care such
as:
 The national health services that license all the national health services care providers
as well as it may research the possible breaks of the national services corporation.
 It also includes the national institute for well-being that prepares a guideline for
clinically effective treatments as well as appraises the new wellness technologies for
effective cost production.
 Well-being education England that generally plans the workforce of national health
services.
Health-related sustainable development (SDG) goals.
The division for sustainable development goals in the United Nations, the department
of economic and social affairs gives the substantive encouragement as well as capacity-
building related thematic problems. It includes energy, water, oceans, transport, the science
and technology and many more developing states. In healthcare, the developmental goals
play a key factor in the evaluation of the United Nation. The sustainable development
includes 17 goals which are related to healthcare among United Kingdom public. These
involves such as no poverty, zero hunger, good well-being, quality education, sanitation and
clean water, economic growth and decent working, the gender equality. Some of these can
also include clean and affordable energy, decreased inequality, the sustainable cities and
communities, a responsible consumption as well as production, the climate change,
partnership for the goals (Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, 2021).
Figure 3 sustainable development goals.

Ensuring the healthy living as well as promoting wellness at all the stages of age is
pretty important to sustainable development. In addition to this, UK is promised to produce
the sustainable development goals in the most effective way. It is done by ensuring that the
objectives are fully embedded in activity which is planned by each of the government
department. It includes the most impactful mechanism for coordinating an implementation is
the departmental planning process. In this, the assuring about healthy living as well as
promoting the healthcare at all the stages of age is concludes under health-related sustainable
developmental goal. It can be achieved by decreasing the crimes in the country, decreasing
the reoffending, fighting with the diseases that are destroying the lives of many people. It also
includes the building of confidence in the transport network ensuring about the safe network,
develop the opportunities including the groups which are under-represented in the
organization. Its ca also enhances the surroundings through cleaner water as well as air,
decreased waste, protects the well-being by leading the wellness as well as social care
system. Its goals also involve to make the United Kingdom safer as well as more resilient to
the threats which occurs globally. Moreover, it’s goals can also include the development
levels of equality in the United Kingdom (Sarkar, 2019).
CONCLUSION
The mission of public health is quite essential and broader than the peculiar activities
of particular agencies. There is also the financial crisis which are affecting various countries.
In addition to this, it is also analysed from the above study that public health is an important
key point which requires broad public care. As it may help in order to accomplish social
interest in assuring the conditions in which people can improve their health. From the past it
was concluded that organized communities made efforts to prevent illness and promote
wellness which are both valuable and effective. It is because the national health strategies
made goal to prevent disease and decrease its impact by taking actions to protect or promote
the welfare and health of the people as a whole. It is concluded from the above discussion
that which challenges affect the most to the United Kingdom public as well as how to
overcome the leading cause. It is also concluded from the above study that various healthcare
systems are been developed in UK so that people can improve their well-being and live a
healthy life. The purpose of developing the various healthcare is making sure the public
contains a support, treatment as well as care which they are required. Its prime motive is
likely to provide a good health among population which is equitably dispersed (Bell et. al.,
2020).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Acton, C. and Hawkins, B., 2021. Are UK alcohol industry political donations intended to
influence public health policies?–Analysis of publicly available data on donations and
lobbying. Journal of Public Affairs, p.e2740.
Akkermans, R., 2018. The UK gender identity clinic for young people. The Lancet Child &
Adolescent Health, 2(12), p.851.
Balakrishnan, V. S., 2017. UK air pollution declines but more needs to be done. The Lancet
Respiratory Medicine, 5(12), p.928.
Bell, K. J and et. al., 2020. Mammography screening for breast cancer—the UK Age
trial. The Lancet Oncology, 21(11), p.e504.
Clark, K., 2017. UK Government announces new life sciences inquiry. The Lancet
Respiratory Medicine, 5(9), p.684.
Colbourn, T and et. al., 2020. Modelling the health and economic impacts of population-wide
testing, contact tracing and isolation (PTTI) strategies for COVID-19 in the UK.
Ebadi, N. and Ahmadi, D., 2019. Association between food insecurity and low fruit and
vegetable intake in the UK in 2016: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet, 394, p.S36.
Glover-Thomas, N., 2020. Making the Public Health Mandate Work: COVID-19 and the
Challenges Revealed in the UK. Medicine and Law, pp.353-367.
Horton, R., 2017. Offline: The unspoken dangers facing UK medical science. The
Lancet, 390(10113), p.2616.
Leon, D. A and et. al., 2020. COVID-19: a need for real-time monitoring of weekly excess
deaths. The Lancet, 395(10234), p.e81.
Organised by: LSHTM (UK) and Chair persons: Martin McKee-UK, Dina Balabanova-UK,
2020. 18. G. Workshop: Feasible and effective anti-corruption for public health: from
analysis and advocacy to action. European Journal of Public
Health, 30(Supplement_5), pp.ckaa165-935.
Sarkar, A., 2019. Nuclear power and uranium mining: current global perspectives and
emerging public health risks. Journal of public health policy, 40(4), pp.383-392.
Steel, N and et. al., 2019. Health in the UK–Authors’ reply. The Lancet, 394(10201), pp.828-
829.

Online:
The UK Health Care System, 2020 [Online] Available through:
http://assets.ce.columbia.edu/pdf/actu/actu-uk.pdf
Healthcare in the UK: a guide to the NHS, 2021 [Online] Available through:
https://www.expatica.com/uk/healthcare/healthcare-basics/the-national-health-service-and-
health-insurance-in-the-uk-1092057/
Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, 2021 [Online] Available through:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-sustainable-development-
goals/implementing-the-sustainable-development-goals--2