Deloitte Future of public health report series

The future of public health report series: Building a fairer and sustainable system for the UK
Deloitte October 2021 -

• The future of public health report series features six reports on the crucial role of public health and the actions needed to optimise the link between health and productivity to drive economic recovery and positive societal impact. 
• Narrowing the gap: Establishing a fairer and more sustainable future for public health (October 2021)
• An executive overview of the key findings from the series, examining the current challenges and future requirements for a resilient public health system in the UK.
• Identifying the gap: Understanding the drivers of inequality in public health (November 2021)
• Evaluating the pre-existing and current challenges and solutions to tackling the ‘wicked problems’ affecting public health, including the impact of COVID-19.
• Negating the gap: Preventing ill health and promoting healthy behaviours (not yet published)
• Exploring how investment in prevention and health promotion can help increase healthy life years and reduce health inequalities.

Health Matters - major public health issues

Health Matters
PHE

• A collection of resources covering facts, resources and information on major public health issues for public health professionals, local authorities and CCG commissioners.
• Includes Guidance which describes barriers to care and information on health inequalities.

Includes:

  
Health matters: preventing cardiovascular disease

PHE 14 February 2021
A professional resource developed by the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention System Leadership Forum (CVDPSLF) that sets to improve the detection and management of atrial fibrillation (AF), high blood pressure and raised cholesterol, and reduce the health inequalities associated with CVD, over the next 10 years. Read the blog, and see the statistics for each STP on PHE Fingertips.
Includes very brief information on health inequalities.

Health matters: reducing health inequalities in mental illness

PHE 18 December 2018

This edition of Health matters brings together in one place the most informative data and the best evidence of what works in removing health inequalities experienced by people living with mental illness.

Health matters: community-centred health and wellbeing approaches

PHE 28 February 2018
Involving and empowering local communities, and particularly disadvantaged groups, is central to local and national strategies in England for both promoting health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities. This edition of Health matters highlights some of the successful interventions that have been implemented across England.

Health matters: increasing the uptake of HIV testing
PHE 1 December 2016
This professional resource outlines how providers and commissioners can normalise HIV testing and reduce barriers to uptake.

COVID-19 epidemic prediction and the impact of public health interventions: A review of COVID-19 epidemic models

COVID-19 epidemic prediction and the impact of public health interventions: A review of COVID-19 epidemic models.
Infect Dis Model. 2021;6:324-342. doi: 10.1016/j.idm.2021.01.001. Epub 2021 Jan 7. 

• A systematic review of epidemic prediction models of COVID-19 and the public health intervention strategies identified 55 studies. The input epidemiological parameters of the prediction models had significant differences in the prediction of the severity of the epidemic spread.

Precision public health – A critical review of the opportunities and obstacles.

Precision public health – A critical review of the opportunities and obstacles.
EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, September 2020

• The term ‘precision public health’ (PPH) refers to a new approach in public health which involves the use of novel data sources and/or computer science-driven methods of data analysis to predict risk or outcomes, in order to improve how interventions are targeted or tailored, with the aim of making them more individualised and therefore more effective and cost-effective than methods currently in use. This critical review outlines key assumptions underpinning the PPH approach and identifies potential challenges in its application.

The Future of Public Health - National Institute for Health Protection

The Future of Public Health
Highlights from Matt Hancock’s speech to Policy Exchange, 18 August 2020
Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMVwycS5y4w
Full transcript here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-future-of-public-health

• Matt Hancock commends the exceptional work of the public health services during the Coronavirus pandemic however acknowledges that the UK did not have the capacity to response to the threat. The changes he describes are designed to strengthen public health in the UK going forward.
• From today (18 August) Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace and the analytical capability of the Joint Biosecurity Centre will form the new National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP)
• The mission of NIHP will be “protecting people to external threats to this country’s health” to give “a stronger and more joined up response”
• “Dedicated to the investigation and prevention of infectious diseases and external health threats.”
• NIHP will bring together infrastructure around science, response and analytics.
• NIHP will report directly to Ministers, support the clinical leadership of the four CMOs of the devolved countries and work closely with local PH Directors and their teams. “More than the sum of the parts”
• A consultation will be held around how to embed health improvement more widely (ie the other functions of PHE around health improvement eg obesity strategy). 

Digital public health and COVID-19

Digital public health and COVID-19
The Lancet Public Health DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30187-0 10 August 2020

• Digital public health refers to the use of technology, new types of data, and new ways of working that come with digitisation of public health and associated data. We use the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to explore some of the ways in which digital public health can transform the public health response.

Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19.

Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19. 

Nat Med 26, 1183–1192 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1011-4

• This Review aims to capture the breadth of digital innovations for the public-health response to COVID-19 worldwide and their limitations, and barriers to their implementation, including legal, ethical and privacy barriers, as well as organizational and workforce barriers. The future of public health is likely to become increasingly digital, and we review the need for the alignment of international strategies for the regulation, evaluation and use of digital technologies to strengthen pandemic management, and future preparedness for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

Abstract

Local action on health inequalities: evidence papers

Local action on health inequalities: evidence papers
PHE ongoing

• A series of  research papers building on the Marmot Review to support local authorities about action on the wider determinants of health. The papers include evidence, practical points and case studies on approaches and actions that can be taken by local authorities on a range of issues to reduce health inequalities.

How to enhance the integration of primary care and public health? Approaches, facilitating factors and policy options

How to enhance the integration of primary care and public health? Approaches, facilitating factors and policy options
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies 2020

• This policy brief explores how primary care and public health can be brought together to improve the health of patients and populations. It describes the types of initiatives that have been undertaken; provides examples of such initiatives in Europe and beyond; and summarises the factors that can help to enhance or hinder the integration of primary care and public health.

How to enhance the integration of primary care and public health?

How to enhance the integration of primary care and public health? Approaches, facilitating factors and policy options
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies 2020

• This policy brief explores how primary care and public health can be brought together to improve the health of patients and populations. It describes the types of initiatives that have been undertaken; provides examples of such initiatives in Europe and beyond; and summarises the factors that can help to enhance or hinder the integration of primary care and public health.

Health of the Nation: National Strategy for Health of the Nation

Health of the Nation: National Strategy for Health of the Nation
All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity 12 February 2020

• A strategy and number of recommendations to meet the government ambition ‘for everyone to have five extra years of healthy, independent life by 2035 and to narrow the gap between the richest and poorest’.
• Recommendations include
• NHS must do more to prevent ill-health and manage its demand. The budget on prevention should increase from 5% to 15% by 2035. 
• Government needs to partner with the left behind places – to reduce health inequalities and support all places to agree health improvement goals with their public.

What the quality of work means for our health

What the quality of work means for our health
Health Foundation 4 February 2020

• This long read presents new analysis exploring changes in one of these wider determinants of health: the labour market. This includes the quantity and quality of employment over the past 10 years, the implications of these changes for health, and what they mean for public policy. It is the first in a series addressing changes in the wider determinants of health and what they mean for health inequalities.

Behaviour change: digital and mobile health interventions: Draft for consultation

Behaviour change: digital and mobile health interventions: Draft for consultation
NICE 24 January 2020

• In a new draft guideline, NICE says that digital interventions such as apps, wearable devices and online programmes and websites may help people achieve health goals. This includes helping people to be more physically active, manage their weight, quit smoking, reduce alcohol intake or reduce unsafe sexual behaviour.
• Consultation closes 6 March 2020.

Community-centred public health: taking a whole system approach

Community-centred public health: taking a whole system approach
PHE 14 January 2020

• Community-centred approaches are those that mobilise assets within communities, encourage equity and social connectedness and increase people’s control over their health and lives. PHE have produced a suite of resources, which are intended for use by local authority, NHS and voluntary and community sector (VCS) decision makers, to help them to:
• improve the effectiveness and sustainability of action to build healthy communities
• embed community-centred ways of working within whole systems action to improve population health.
• These resources include:
• briefing paper - a summary of findings
• slide-deck - a presentation main findings
• collection of practice examples
• list of alternative whole system frameworks

The English local government public health reforms: an independent assessment

The English local government public health reforms: an independent assessment
Kings Fund 10 January 2020

• This report, commissioned by the Local Government Association, assesses the success of the 2013 reforms to public health in England, which were part of the Coalition government’s wider health reform programme. 
• The report also looks at the effects of the reforms in both the short and longer term and looks at the impact of the changes, and looks into the future and the implications for public health in the context of the NHS long term plan, the government’s prevention consultation and the wider shift to population health systems.

Can conversational AI solve the obesity crisis?

Can conversational AI solve the obesity crisis?
Health Tech Digital 11 December 2019

• One approach that has been shown to help individuals adhere to weight loss programmes is by leveraging the nudge theory, which advocates that regular, subtle communication is more effective at influencing people to change behaviour than just telling them to do so. 
• This article by Dr Vincent Grasso, IPSoft Inc, discusses the potential of conversational AI to provide the regular nudges shown to support those on weight loss programmes make behavioural change.

Premature mortality attributable to socioeconomic inequality in England between 2003 and 2018

Premature mortality attributable to socioeconomic inequality in England between 2003 and 2018: an observational study
The Lancet December 05, 2019 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30219-1

• A cross-sectional study of 2·5 million premature deaths in England (2003-2018) found that one in three was attributable to neighbourhood deprivation measured by upstream determinants of health including income, employment, education, and crime.The biggest contributors were ischaemic heart disease , respiratory cancers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
• See the tableaux map to explore the data at LA level. 
• Data available here.

Reflection Paper on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

Moving beyond the hype: EPHA Reflection Paper on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence 
European Public Health Alliance November 2019

• The purpose of this paper is to reflect on Big Data and AI from a public health perspective. It outlines actual and potential uses, describes the effects they exert on health systems and healthcare, and highlights a number of concerns to ensure that data use and governance occurs in the most ethical and fair way possible. 

Moving Beyond the Hype: Reflection Paper on Big Data and AI

Moving Beyond the Hype: EPHA Reflection Paper on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
European Public Health Alliance November 2019

• The purpose of this paper is to reflect on Big Data and AI with a public health perspective. It outlines actual and potential uses, describes the effects they exert on health systems and healthcare, and highlights a number of concerns to ensure that data use and governance occurs in the most ethical and fair way possible.

Harnessing data and technology for public health: five challenges

Harnessing data and technology for public health: five challenges. Responding to the government’s prevention green paper
Health Foundation 8 October 2019

• In response to the governments prevention green paper - Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s., this long read sets five challenges that the government needs to address if it is to harness the full potential of data and technology in public health, and offer a suggestion to help address each.
• The challenges are:
• balancing interventions that reduce individual susceptibility versus interventions that tackle the underlying causes
• balancing universal interventions against targeted approaches
• making prevention services accessible to those who need them most
• closing the evidence gap between prediction and prevention
• balancing investment in novel solutions against funding tried-and-tested solutions.