John Simon
John Snow the fourth founder of public health and a professional physician succeeded Edwin Chadwick in his application to health administration. He became a medical officer to the bored of health in 1855. He also helped to put into place their first sewage systems in through the 1850s to the 1860s with the help of scientists and engineers. The sanity act 1866 put into place a duty of inspection on local authorities witch extended there rand of sanity powers witch could target any local authorities not compelling with the sanity act.
20th Century
The Beverage Report (1942) was produces to help those in society that was considered to be poor. The report was appointed to be written by Sir William Beveridge by the government. The purpose of the report was because after the Second World War there were well-built feelings about the British people and how they should be rewarded for their sacrifice and participation as such.
Following, December 1942, Beveridge published a report that proposed that all people of working age should pay a weekly contribution known as national insurance from their wages, so that people who were ill, unemployed, retired or widowed could have some benefits of this money being paid.
Also in the aftermath of the Second World War Clement Atlee’s Labour government created the National Health Service witch was focused on the proposals of the Beveridge Report in 1942. After this a white paper was then published in 1943 that followed the debate organised by the British Medical Association (BMA).
The formation of the NHS in England and Wales was well-known by the National Health Service Act (1946) and the fresh ideas were put into place on the 5th July 1948. This was under the Health and Housing Minister Aneurin Bevan. General taxation was what funded the NHS and not national insurance. NHS services were provided by the same doctors and the same hospitals yet services were provided free at the point of use, this meant that everyone was eligible and initialled for care, even those who were temporary residents in the country.
The original formation of the NHS had three arms which were
- Hospital services
- Primary Care (Family doctor services)
- Community services including maternity and child welfare clinics, health visitors, midwives, health education, vaccination and immunisation and ambulance services.
The Acheson Report (1998)
The review of health and inequalities in England were summaries and assed in 1997 by the secretary of state fir health along side Donald Acheson who was invited to attend. They locate the priority areas for the development of policies to reduce them. This came to the creation of two well known reports in this area that had been carried out earlier, the report of Sir Douglas Black (Black Report) in 1977 and the updated version (The Health Divide) in 1987. At the time the reports were kept un- mentioned and private at the time of their release, this was due to the bad assumptions picture it presented of the widening health inequalities in such a developed country.
Donald Acheson finished his report with 39 recommendations for dealing addressing health inequality, ‘judged on the scale of their impact on health inequalities and the weight of evidence’. The three areas identified as fundamental to this process are:
- All policies likely to have an impact on health should be evaluated in terms of their impact on health inequality
- A high priority should be given to the health of families and children
- Further steps should be taken to reduce income inequalities and improve living standards.
Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (1999): the labour government had published a health system not long after they came in power in 1997, the strategy had correlated in with the Acheson report which was the aim to undertake the main source to ill health including pollution, unemployment, low income, crime and disorder and poor housing. Within this scheme it focused on the top killers of the population which included conditions such as cancer, stroke, coronary heart disease, accidents and mental illness, which there were such businesses provided for instance local councils, NHS and local voluntary bodies. Within the strategy that was set by the labour government were specific health targets in the key disease areas these were:
A health strategy was published by the Labour government not long after it came into place in 1997. Its priority was to deal with the key causes of ill health such as unemployment, low wages air pollution, crime and disorder and poor housing. Principally it linked to the earlier report the Acheson Report. It primarily focused on the prevention of the overriding killers which consisted of Cancer, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), stroke, accidents and mental illness. It then also had a mixture of service providers such as businesses.
Specific Health Targets
Included within the scheme were health targets in main disease areas:
- Cancer – to reduce the mortality rate in under 75s by at least 20 per cent
- Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke – to reduce the mortality rate in under 75s by at least 40 per cent
- Accidents – to reduce the mortality rate by at least 20 per cent and serious injury by at least 10 per cent
Mental Illness
To reduce the mortality rate from suicide and uncertain injury by at least 20 per cent.
21st Century
The white paper Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices Easier (2004) had cam to attention that the interest in health was increasing and recommended a new approach towards public health witch would Focus also on the fast changes happening in society and the increase of technological society in which we live in today.
The paper published the government duty in promoting social justice and how they should deal with the wider causes of ill health and inequality taking a holistic approach and the need for support and empowerment for specific individuals to make the right choices and make sufficient and appropriate changes to there life. The principles that the document had been underpinned by three structures witch were:
- to protect children
- not to let one person’s choices to adversely affect another’s
- To work together, to make communities and organisations connect and achieve an effective partnership.
Priorities that were involved were to
- Reduce the number of people who smoke
- Reduce obesity and improve diet and nutrition
- Increase exercise
- Encourage and support sensible drinking
- Improve sexual health
- Improve mental health
The White Paper then focused on the following areas to take place
- That children and young should have active travel plans in all schools in Britain by 2010.
- Local authorities should work with communities and the national transport charity Sustrans, to build over 7,000 miles of new cycle lanes and tracks.
- Those NHS health trainers should help people to make healthy choices and stick to them.
- The NHS should be the health promoter, including training of staff to help deliver key health messages as part of their daily work with patients/ services users.
- Work and health – the NHS will become a model employer for individuals.
Health Protection Agency (HPA)
The health protection agency is an organisation that protects the threat of people’s health from infectious diseases and environmental hazards. They were set up by the government in 2003 and are an independent organisation. By providing evidence and information To Whom It May Concern including, the general public, health professionals, and the national local government they are able it allows them to asses and discovers infectious disease hazards that may be a concern and help to protect the public from them. The hazards that they respond and identify are infectious diseases, hazardous chemicals, poisons and radiation and gives advice to the wide public on how to stay healthy and avoid these health hazards. They do this by combining public health and scientific research and knowledge. They also provide data to inform them and so it will help in the decision making of such health areas. Not only do they inform and provide information and data on hazards and health threatening issues they also help prepare the nation for threats that can occur in the future which can happen accidentally, naturally or even deliberately. There work covers international, national, regional and local areas and supports other organisations that are also involved in protecting health. The local HPA works alongside the national health services such as centres for infections centres for emergencies, preparedness and others. The HPA also use all information, data and knowledge on the working of producing new vacancies and treatments which can directly help patients in health organisations.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s is another independent organisation that have aim to promote good health, provide guidance and make many recommendations for the NHS on things like new and existing medicines, treatments and procedures. It also makes recommendations to local authorities and other organisations in the public, private and community sectors. They specialise in promoting good well-being and the prevention of ill health for those working in the NHS, local authorities and the public.
Voluntary Sector
The Voluntary Sector has an important role in providing care and services for those that need it. This sector helps as is a non-profiting sector that works agencies that get their funding from charitable giving, specific funding from public sector organisations such as Primary Care Trust’s (PCTs) or even through the National Lottery.
They include providers such as Mencap witch support people with disabilities and their families living in the U.K with advice and a variety of other service’s that help them in improving their life. A local charity in on a smaller scale and will help health care services in local areas such as a hospice.
Target Setting
Nationally and internationally targets aim to
Achieve specific outcomes over a specific time period. During the period of time that has been set out for the targets they will be monitored in relation to the progression towards the achievement of goal and objective that has been set to aim towards. This may be quantitative or qualitative, were they analyse figures and statistics or study and convey questionnaires.
However, international targets for health do not always work because to set a SMART target it requires all the countries to be involved to agree to how they are going to deal with a situation that has been pin pointed.
National targets were not put into place until the White Paper: The Health of the Nation (1992) came out in the United Kingdom stating 27 specific targets that were based on improving health in five main areas these areas included:
- Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and Stroke
- Cancers (breast, lung, cervical and skin cancers)
- Mental illness
- HIV / AIDS and sexual health
- Accidents
These were key Ares that were chosen due to them being main areas of death cases and ill health issues.
Regional and local targets are there to improve health and are normally documented like the Local Development Plan of the PCT which might include investment in health promotion programmes or improving local services.
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) is were these types of targets can be found and is a partnership plan with high level targets that include issues like reducing the level of teenage pregnancy and poverty for example.
SMART
Is a way in which targets are explained, as the follow the meaning for the initial for smart to become effective when preparation, which is shown below:
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Specific – defined in terms which are clear and precise
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Measurable – when the work is finished we can see whether the objective has been achieved, or not
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Achievable – realistic, i.e. within our power to achieve
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Relevant – focused on addressing an appropriate issue within our broad aim
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Timed – we have agreed a timescale by which we can expect to have delivered this objective / outcome
The key groups which influence health policies are:-
Greenpeace
This primarily focuses on the more crucial worldwide threats to the planets biodiversity and environment. This is done by campaigning to prevent many forms of issues such as climate change.
Friends of the earth (FoE)
Friends of the earth aim to influence policy and practices through campaigning about climate change, increasing recycling and global free trade. By doing this they are also bringing awareness of these issues.
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Who aim to strengthen health services by providing better advice, information and assistance in the area of health? They are also involved in the implantation to the improvement on nutrition, housing, sanitation, working conditions and hygiene.
Cancer Research UK
Focus all there studies and efforts in cancer research and all the issues surrounding cancer in order to find and identify treatments and cures.
Identify current patterns of ill health and inequality in the UK (P3)
In today’s society patterns of ill health and inequalities show a number of decreases in disease and some increases. A common pattern that has occurred is that people are living longer then previous centuries. This is because people are reaching older ages in better health and also other factors such as a decrease in many disease du to vaccination and infection control. Due to modern facilities, clean environment. Infection control and other precaution of health the rate of child hood deaths and illness are falling. Infectious disease of last centuries have been eradicated or controlled. These include diseases such as small pox. In 1796 the smallpox vaccine was the first successful vaccine to be developed. The process of vaccination was discovered by Edward Jenner, Prior to widespread vaccination, mortality rates in individuals with smallpox were high and up to 35% in some cases. Before the introduction of a vaccine, the mortality of the severe form of smallpox was very high. In the early 1950s – 150 years after the introduction of vaccination an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year, a figure which fell to around 10–15 million by 1967 because of vaccination. In 1967, when WHO launched a plan to eradicate smallpox, the "ancient scourge" threatened 60% of the world's population, killed every fourth victim, scarred or blinded most survivors, and eluded any form of treatment. Through the success of the global eradication campaign, smallpox was only an issue in Africa and then to a single last natural case, which occurred in Somalia in 1977. A fatal laboratory-acquired case occurred in the United Kingdom in 1978. The global eradication of smallpox was certified, based on intense verification activities in countries, by a commission of eminent scientists in December 1979 and subsequently endorsed by the World Health Assembly in
1980.
Another example of a disease that has been controlled in today’s society especially in the UK is cholera. Cholera was one of many contagious diseases which killed people in the 19th century. Due to John Snow in identifying cholera coming from contaminated water this put into place the creation of sewers witch was conducted by Joseph Bazalgette and know in society still have the system of sewer witch prevents pollution and the spread of disease specifically cholera. Due to bad sewage systems and pollution in other countries such as Africa there are still some places that are affected by cholera and still an awareness of the disease. Organisations such as the world health society have put into place prevention and control measure on possible out breaks of cholera. They believe that the importance of medium- and long-term prevention activities in cholera control should be empathised as current responses to cholera outbreaks tends to be reactive, in the form of an emergency response. While this approach prevents many deaths, it fails to prevent cases of cholera.
On the other hand diseases that have increased in today’s society are cancer, coronary health disease and stroke. These add up to two thirds off all deaths as they are not jus disease that kill people but are major causes of death in society. Across the population health and life expectancy is not shared equally across the population but we are all living longer lives.
Other links in today’s society to health status are things such as inequalities. It is argues that people that have a higher class therefore earning more money will have better health them people that are in these classes and have low funds. This is due to the lifestyles that come with the classes. For example people that have more money will have be able to buy healthier foods were as people with less money wont care so much about the food content but simply being able to feed themselves and there children. Also environmental factors can have an effect on people health. For example some people may live in highly polluted area or parts the world were water in contaminated. This can lead them to developing disease and subjected to more health issues then people that don’t live in these areas. All patterns of ill health can from within smaller groups due to genetically passed diseases such as diabetes. This can be passed down through families crating patterns within there family of ill health conditions.
In the 1970s mortality rates among within men of the working age were almost as high as unskilled groups as there were for professional groups. 20 years after this mortality rates hade rose to almost three time higher then unskilled groups.
Inequalities also made some reference to health status in society. In 1970 the labour government set up a plan to review to explore the inequalities in health and then to suggest policy recommendations. This was done by Sir Douglas Black and was publish in 1980 when the conservative was in power.
The report showed that there was a large difference in mortality and morbidity rates between higher class and lower class witch were more favourable in the higher classes. During this time the differences were not addressed properly by the health and social care services. The report also stated that targets to illuminate child poverty should be focused upon nationally.
(P4) describe the six factors that potentially affect health status in the U.K
Social class
Social class is defined as grouping people in society by occupations and wealth so their socio-economic status.
It is often looked at as the more money you earn the higher class you are. The classes are:
Upper class, witch usually includes people with inherited wealth but also top professions such as barristers and top consultant can also b seen as upper class people.
Middle class, this is the class that the majority of people in Britain fall into and includes professionals, business people, business owners and industrialists.
Lower class, these are people who have the lowest paid jobs and include factory workers and other jobs paying low wages.
Social class can have a potential affect on people health status in many different ways. One more obvious way is due to social class being linked with how much money a person owns people in lower classes will have less money then people in higher classes resulting in them not being able to afford various things. For example people in higher classes can afford private health care witch enables them to be treated more quickly them people that are in lower class were they the is a much higher demand of care in public health institutions. An example of this can be two patients with a back problem if a person was able to afford private treatment that they will be able to have more regular appointment and specialised care speeding up their recovery rate, were as a person not able to afford private care will have limited care access and appointed appointments are more likely to recover slower then that of the private care user.
Diet
This is another factor that can have a potential affect on health status. Within the UK people follow a very diverse variety of eating pattern witch can include eating a health well balance on a every days bases, short term healthy eating to decrease weight or health related issues or some people don’t follow any routine of diet. If a person follow a unhealthy form of a diet for example eating to much unhealthy food that are high in content of fats and sugars this can lead to a person more likely in developing disease related to unhealthy diets such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. Within the More than half the adults in the UK are heavier than recommended. About 2 in 5 adults are overweight, and about a further 1 in 5 are obese. The number of obese people in the UK is rising, particularly among young adults. Since 1980, the number of obese adults in the UK has nearly tripled. Due to the high rise in people becoming over weight due to unhealthy diets within the UK this has had a potential risk on the people health and has raised the amount health problems with the heart, respiratory system and blood sugar levels witch can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure and breathing problems. Also when a person is considered to be overweight or obese then often when receiving health care relating to these conditions there weights issues will come into question and seen as a cause of this condition
Lifestyle
A variety of lifestyle can have an effect on health.
This can include Habits such as include smoking witch is a cause for many major respiratory diseases and various cancers. Also alcohol and drug intake can have major effects on health status as this can lead a person to encountering various cancers, liver problems, dysfunctions and mental health issues. Within the UK drug and alcohol intake is a high market and there is a huge percentage of people that misuses these substances.
Psychosocial factors also can affect a person health for example; stress and risk taking can have a major impact on a person’s health in relation to heart attacks and mental stress related issues.
Poor diet can also be linked to a person lifestyle leading to obesity, reducing life expectancy or alternatively malnutrition.
Lack of physical exercise can have a major effect on a health especially cardiovascular and respiratory systems. If a person does not lead a lifestyle witch include regular exercise they are more likely to encounter these issues.
Lack of physical exercise
Sexual behaviours can also have an effect on a person health for example a person how is more sexually active and practises unprotected sex are at risk of sexual transmitted infections and disease witch lead to many health.
Also teenage pregnancy is a high percentage within the UK and due to many teenagers not leading stable lives such as lack of funds can create health issues for themselves such as malnutrition to them and there child, can lead to bad housing conditions due to money issues witch also can have a potential risk on health.
Housing
Housing can also have an affect on health status due to the standard of the living condition for example some houses within the U.K are old or haven’t been build sufficiently du to this can be a result from a lack of an effective barriers between the water in the ground and the walls of the home. Water soaks upwards from the ground leaving a “tide mark”. This ca cause issues such as damp condensation and mould growth. Due to these conditions within a house can lead a person in developing health problems such as asthma, Bronchitis, other respiratory problems, Arthritis and Rheumatism
And mental health issues such as depression.
Another housing condition can be a cold home. This can be caused form inadequate or inefficient heating systems and poor insulation. The health effects that this can have on a person living in these conditions are
- Respiratory illness
- Cardiovascular conditions
- Hypothermia
- Increased risk of accidents and falls
- Impaired mental function
- Mental health (depression/isolation)
- Rheumatism and arthritis
The environment
Environment influences issues sometimes things we have little control over. Environmental influences and can have an affect on health status. Things such as poor neighbourhood conditions can increase the amount of Noise pollution, such as loud background noise from aero planes, washing, loud music; noise from people outside can have a potential affect on someone’s well being such as depression due to that amount of noise they are being subjected to. Depression can lead to a series of other conditions due immunity being lowered during depression witch intern can lead to a poor health status. Also air pollution can have a significant affect on people health. Air and water pollution can influence development and be a major source of ill health. Pollution in the environment into which a child is born can affect development in a number of ways:-
- Infectious agents that get into the drinking water supply due to poor personal hygiene
- poor sanitation and sewage disposal can lead to many diseases including diarrhea which is still one of the main causes of child mortality
- Exposure to small amounts of lead in water, food and the air can damage the nervous system of infants and small children
Also pollution from traffic fumes such as carbon monoxide nitrogen oxides volatile organic compounds particulate matter can affect lung development and function and damage various body systems.
People who live near busy roads may be particularly exposed to this pollution and can have an effect on there health.
Education on health
Education makes it easier for people to access information and resources to make decisions about their health.
Education also contributes to health in a number of other ways. For example, people with higher education are more likely to be able to find well-paying "good" jobs. This increases their chances for stable incomes, job security and job satisfaction. Education also provides people with the knowledge and skills they need to solve problems and to cope with change. This gives them a sense of control over their circumstances, which in turn contributes to better health. Education is the pathway to learn about certain health issues and opportunities. For example if a person was not educated on health issues such as dietary needs then they may not know what how to lead a healthy lifestyles and diet. Things such as exercising, although most people know that this is good for you knowing exactly the benefits it can have on the body could increase some one to take up more. Also if a person is not educated in the health care that they are entitled to then this can lead them to not getting the sufficient health care witch could hinder their health status.
Describe methods of promoting and protecting public health (P5)
Improving health means improving people health status and general condition of people in all aspects. These include a range of areas such as improving health inequalities encouraging health lifestyles by health promoting. Health promotion has a range of categories that is focused upon. These include improving and encouraging healthier lifestyles, encourage people to the access of services relating to health and to make healthier choices and also the education of the human body and how to maintain its wellbeing. Health promotion in earlier dates was seen to be health education but health promotion in the intervention that is highly associated with people and organisations.
Definition of health promotion varies but can all share similar contents. Here is an example of a definition
‘Health Promotion is the provision of information and/or education to individuals, families, and communities that-encourage family unity, community commitment, and traditional spirituality that make positive contributions to their health status. Health Promotion is also the promotion of healthy ideas and concepts to motivate individuals to adopt healthy behaviours.’
Health promotion covers, health education witch consist of informing a giving knowledge of health aspect, prevention witch gives information strategies and support on how health issues can be prevented and health protection witch involves way in witch a person can be protected against bad health. These areas of health promotion aim to improve health and reduce health inequalities.
The white paper ‘Choosing Health: Making healthy choices easier’ has intension to produce the main principles for assisting the public to come to healthier choices when it come to there health. Information and practical support to encourages people to improve there wellbeing and motivation to healthier lifestyle can be provided from the government so that people ca make there choice easier due to sufficient information.
Over last century improvement of health and life expectancy has risen significantly but in taking this as a future progression can not be taken for granted as health is a changing factor in many areas for example cancer coronary heart disease an and stokes has risen significantly in today century witch brings in new areas of national targets in improving health making these areas of concern a high need.
Another national target include health inequalities witch aims to reduce them by 2010. This has involved specific interventions among people that are seen to have disadvantages that would most likely to help in achieving the targets. Specific targets include things such as reducing the amount of people that smoke in manual social groups, preventing risks and maintaining to coronary heart disease by promoting and informing on how the diet, obesity, physical activity can effect these conditions and cause them and also improving the equality of housing by assessing cold and damp conditions and accident that may occur at home.
Health promotion activities and health education
There are many activities that aim to promote and educate people about health issues and encourage them to take part in activities witch can have a positive effect on there health. These include:-
- Healthy eating campaigns
- Standards for school lunches
- National non smoking day
Healthy eating campaigns
Healthy eating has an important role in reducing health issues such as obesity witch is a growing problem in the UK and also reducing disorder that relate to unhealthy eating patterns. A well know campaign that encourages the intake of 5 fruit and vegetables a day is the 5 A Day program. This was produced due to the average intake of fruit and vegetable being consumed by an individual was less then three a day. This campaign is lead by the government and aims to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetable by educating the benefits that this can have on health and also improve the accessibility to fresh fruit and vegetables. The campaign in underpin by five areas witch evaluates and monitors the program by involving:-
- National school fruit schemes
- Local 5 A Day initiatives
- National / local partners – government health consumer groups.
- Communications programme including 5 A Day logo.
- Work with industry including producers, caterers & retailers
Standards for school lunches
The standards for food in schools is commission by the school food trust (SFT) 2005 this include all school in England and standards apply to school lunches and all food provided in local authority maintained schools.
All food provided by local authorities must meet national nutritional standards. These ensure that children are provided with a healthy, balanced diet. The new standards, introduced in September 2006, require the following:
- high-quality meat, poultry or oily fish regularly available
- at least two portions of fruit and vegetables with every meal
- bread, other cereals and potatoes regularly available
Also there are controls on deep-fried food limited to no more than two portions per week and fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate and other confectioneries removed from school meals and vending machines.
National non smoking day
The first No Smoking Day was on Ash Wednesday in 1984 and now takes place on the second Wednesday in March. It is an annual health awareness day in the United Kingdom that is intended to help smokers who want to quit smoking. Since 1984 a recorded 1.2 million have stopped smoking. This has encourage a rise in campaigns for non smoking as 5000 has now been registered and 30,000 campaign packs are distributed to organizers each year. No smoking day has become a highly known campaign as each year 70% of the population are aware of this day. Not only does it give a chance for smoker to gain motivation and receive information and support on how to stop smoking it also can bring awareness to non smoker in preventing them not to smoke due to the knowledge they are receiving on the health issues that come with smoking.
Specific protection
Specific protection can be put in place to help protect people from develop developing disease’s. These include:-
Immunisation
Disease surveillance
Screening programmes
Immunisation
Immunisation plays an important part in protecting individuals and the community from serious . Immunisation prepares our bodies to fight against certain with mild symptoms in stead of the full blow disease, in case we come into contact with them in the future. An immunisation program creates heard immunity and due to a wide population being immunised this reduces the likely hood of an epidemic forming. The government set targets for immunisation for the local health services to meet. If these targets are short felled then this can cause concern of potential epidemics.
Disease surveillance
Specific infections are monitored to try to detect any significant trend forming and that have formed, evaluate prevention and control measures and to inform professional and organisation on infectious disease threats. This programme also informs the health protection agency (HPA) were these trend can then be monitored. The Infectious diseases can be things such as food poisoning and sexually transmitted infections. Sample are taken form infected people witch are the studied to identify new and virulent strains on specific organisms that can be the cause of high levels of illness. This information can then be used to conduct appropriate response to possible outbreak that could occur and affect the health of the wider public.
Screening
Screening is the recognition of unrecognised disease or defect by the relevance procedures such as clinical tests and examinations witch can be carried out with a result quicker then waiting for the disease to show.
Screening can be a contentious issue and most of the people that are being examined will not have the condition that they have been examined for.
When the disease has been identified treatment can then be instigated. Also screening can help people n society that need to be more investigated then other for example people over the age of 50 may be called in for a screening test as this is an age were many complication and conditions may develop due to the aging process.
Environmental aspects
This includes waste disposal and treatment, supply of safe water and pollution control. Waste can have a serious threat to health and cause concerns in the amount of waste that is being produced from the nation. The government set target to tackle these issues and some improvement have taken place since then. This has changes the recycling methods witch includes collection of glass, paper and plastics. Also recycling has rose in households from 7% in 1997 to 11% in 2002. Also the amount of waste disposed in land fill has fallen from 80% in 2000 to 78% in 2001.
Supply of safe water has also been regulated by the drinking water inspections (DWI). They were set up in 1990 after the water industry was privatised to operate an independent body of staff experienced in all aspects of water supply.
DWI’s main task is to make sure that the water companies in England & Wales supply water that is safe to drink & meet the standards set in Water Quality. They do this by performing technical audits of each water company. These are set by water quality regulation and come from European laws witch are based on world health guidelines. It also includes safe guarding current standards of water supplies.
Pollution control is another environmental aspect that is highly monitored.
Pollution from industrial organizations in England & Wales has been controlled to a certain degree over 150 years.
The Pollution & Control (England & Wales) Regulations 2000 (the PPC Regulations) is a strategy for controlling pollution from certain industrial activities. The strategy introduces the concept of Best Available Techniques (BAT) to environmental regulations.
Operators have to demonstrate the use of BAT to control pollution from their industrial activities to gain there permit
BAT prevents and where not practicable, reduce to high levels of pollution to the air, land & water from industrial activities. They also aim to balance the cost to the operator against benefits to the environment. It requires operator to acquire permits and once they have submitted a permit application, the regulator witch is usually the Environmental Agency then decides whether to issue a permit. If a permit has been granted it will include conditions aimed at reducing & preventing pollution to acceptable levels. This is involved in the promotion of health as pollution has been a rising concern on the developing of health issues so putting these restriction and actions into place shows that
the government has recognised the effect pollution can have on health in the UK.
Identify appropriate methods of prevention/ control for a named communicable disease and a named non-communicable disease (P6)
Communicable disease
A communicable disease is a disease that spreads from person to person that is transferred through people, animals, surfaces, foods, or air. Communicable diseases are diseases that you can "catch" from someone or something else. This is done by microorganisms carried by carried by a person or something with the infectious disease and transmitted to people though fluid exchange contaminated substances or close to the person that is infected for example sexual intercourse or just being in the radius of a simple cough or sneeze.
Tuberculosis (TB) - A communicable disease
TB is the infection of the bacteria call Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tb can be transmitted through the air when a person coughs sneezes or even breaths and the microscopic bacterial droplets from the person with the infection can remain in the air for some time leaving people around vulnerable to get infected. TB is a main disease of the lungs but can also affect the bones, urinary tract, sexual organs intestines and the skin due to it being able to spread by the blood being transported around the body. Signs and symptoms of tuberculosis carry a vast amount with the main ones being:-
- Chronic persistent coughing
- Sputum production
- Fatigue
- Appetite reduced
- Decreases in weight
- Fever
- Night sweats
Some individual may have stronger immunities leading to signs and symptom not being noticed for months and in some cases years so people are advice not to weight for symptoms to shoe if they are suspicious of having the disease but to seek medical advice in the first instance.
Prevention and control
TB can be prevented by the BCG vaccination. This includes active immunisation as a weaker, less virulent strain of the disease is introduced into the both via needle which stimulates the body’s immune system to produce antibodies. Although some people may encounter minor symptoms of the disease they will not get the full blown disease. This is the best method of prevention of TB as it offers immunisation and is not a temporary method.
The BCG vaccination was given to all secondary school witch was a programme to protect society by aiming it at all school pupils as this was an effective way to carry out herd immunity but t since have focused on more vulnerable people that can catch the disease
Today vaccination is recommended to people in higher risk of contracting the disease which includes people within localities were there has been 40 cases or more incident of TB Especially children and infants, new immigrant from countries were TB is at a high, people in organisations were there are a mass amount of people in one environment such as hospital staff, prisoner and refuges and also contacts of those whom have been around people diagnosed with TB.
If a person has already caught the TB virus then treatment today consists of antibiotics given to the person over a period of time usually 6 to 8 months a variety of medicines are included to prevent any people resisting for the antibiotics. Side effects of the medicines are also monitor by specialist physicians. Also compliance of the patient with TB is also a measure as not doing this can lead complications and leading it to be and un-effective.
Patients that have been diagnosed with the infection are also advised to avoid contact from other people until they are into 2 weeks of the treatment so it does not spread.
Cases of TB are logged and health care providers are required by law to report TB cases and suspects within 72 hours of diagnosis to the health protection agency. Also WHO and international tuberculosis union IUALTD support and pursue the formation of TB programmes to monitor and bring the infection to awareness.
Non -communicable disease
A non-communicable disease can be described as an opposite to a communicable disease as this is a non-contagious disease as it can’t communicate from one thing to another. The cause if these diseases are from other underlining reason such as genetics, accidents and lifestyle factor that have influenced the disease.
Diabetes- A non-communicable disease
Diabetes is a disease in witch blood sugar levels concedes over the normal averages. There are two types main types of diabetes witch are named as type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is when a person is inulin dependant and type 2 is usually non independent. Diabetes is caused by the pancreas producing insufficient inulin or even no production of insulin which is type underlined in type1 diabetes and also if the pancreases produce inadequate insulin such as the body not reacting to the insulin this can also cause diabetes and is type2 diabetes. Symptoms can include:-
- Thirstiness
- The pass of urination frequently
- Tiredness
- Weight loss
- Itchiness especially in the genital region
- Recurrent infection on the skin such as spots
Diabetes can also be a case for other complications such as blindness, kidney disease nerve disease and atherosclerosis especially if it reaches to the late stage diabetes.
There are many factors that can influence a person getting diabetes which can include a family history (genetics) and lifestyle witch type two being connected with unhealthy diets and obesity.
Prevention and control
In the UK diabetes is a rising disease with 2.3 million people reported to have the disease and 0.5 million suspected of the disease but in aware of it. With obesity levels raised, this has also lead to type 2 diabetes increasing.
The prevention diabetes usual involves around leading a healthy lifestyle such as maintain a balance diet with low sugar and fat intake. If diabetes regular pattern within a family these are the precautions advised to do to reduce their chances of getting the disease.
Due to the rise in diabetes and the significant number of people that have it organisation such as the NHS have programmes witch focus on tackling and managing people with diabetes. NHS aim to
- Prevent type 2 diabetes
- Identify people with diabetes
- Empower people with diabetes
- Clinical care for adults with diabetes
- Clinical care for children and young people with diabetes
- Manage of diabetic emergencies
- Care for people with diabetes during admission to hospital
- Monitor and reduces Diabetes and pregnancy
- Detect and manage long-term diabetes
Local chemist and doctor offer free blood tests for assessing a person’s blood sugar levels. Intern this is a good measurement for assessing people that may have diabetes and also alarming people if they are in risk of getting it due to high blood sugar levels.
People diagnosed with diabetes are given a specialist diets by their doctors but usual a well balance diet is recommended avoiding large intakes of fatty and high sugar foods. People that are overweight are advised to decrease their weight as part of their treatment.
Insulin injections are giving to people with type1 diabetes and some type2 diabetes. They increase the amount of insulin being produced within the body which brings down the blood sugar level. Other medications stabling diabetes are tablet formed witch can increase the amount of insulin, delay absorption of glucose, supress glucagon or increase the action of insulin. These treatments for individual depend on the type of diabetes and conditions the patient has.
Managing diabetes consists of routine and annual check-ups by a doctor. This determines if the treatment the person is receiving is working and also looks out for any other condition that can come to complication due to their diabetes.
