Meeting documents

            Meeting: Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 29/03/2004 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A8 Government Consultation on Public Health Choosing Health?

         

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Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee 29 March 2004 Government Consultation on Public Health - Choosing Health?

Report of Head of Overview and Scrutiny

Purpose of Report

1. To explain that the Government has published a wide-ranging consultation document about public health. The report is based on a briefing prepared by the Democratic Health Network.

Background

2. The Department of Health have published a major consultation document entitled ‘Choosing Health?’ The document seeks views on the role that individuals, the government - both central and local - the NHS, the public sector more broadly, the voluntary sector and industry, the media and others can play in improving people’s health.

3. The consultation document is published against the background of the recent report by Derek Wanless on health inequalities and how they might be addressed. The government anticipates publishing a White Paper on public health in the summer, which it states will be informed by responses to the consultation document.

4. The form of the consultation

The consultation document

5. In his foreword to the consultation document, the Secretary of State for Health claims that there is a growing recognition that the health and well being of communities and society as a whole is not just a matter for central government: the NHS and other public services, individuals, organisations and communities all play a part and looking at how to make things better. But “just as it is wrong to see action on health as solely a matter for the Government, so it is wrong to say that Government has no role. We have to strike the right balance between the contributions that the Government and others will make”.

6. The questions in the consultation document are, therefore, framed in terms of how all groups and individuals can agree on how best to make a real difference; how all those involved can work together more effectively to promote the health of all; how children can be given the best possible start; how to ensure that people can have a healthy retirement; and how to ensure that people have the local environments, services, facilities and information they need to choose healthy lifestyles.

7. The document points out that there have been some significant improvements in particular health areas in recent years: for example, premature deaths from coronary heart disease have been reduced by 23% and cancer by 10% since 1997. However, some of the worst health areas in the country still have life expectancy similar to the average for the whole country in the 1950s; and there are worrying trends in public health, such as the increase in obesity, particularly among the least well off.

8. As appendices to the consultation document there are a series of useful factsheets on areas in which the government believes action is necessary to improve public health and reduce inequalities. These are:

9. The fact sheets are useful briefing material for this Sub-Committee. Some of the relevant fact sheets are attached for information.

Questions for response

10. Questions to which the government is seeking a response from all sectors, organisations and individuals are posed throughout the document on a variety of issues. The questions range widely over the roles of various institutions, such as the media and advertising, to specific concerns, such as how to improve access to health information to those whose first language is not English, how to provide environments in which people have real choices about their diet and exercise and how to encourage more people to respond to screening invitations.

Comment from the Democratic Health Network

11. The document’s title, Choosing Health? appears to imply the simplistic notion that becoming healthy and leading a healthy life is a matter of personal choice. They welcome the recognition in the document that the choices available to people are often heavily constrained by their circumstances. However, it is noticeable that although the document explicitly acknowledges, with many examples, the very high correlation between health and socio-economic class, it says very little about the potential for national fiscal policy to impact on health. Almost all the solutions and good practice examples that are cited are based on local initiatives or national initiatives that involve local implementation strategies. It is unfortunate, for example, that the government appears already to have ruled out further discussion of the option of a “fat tax” on unhealthy foods which might be used to generate income to subsidise healthy eating initiatives in poor communities. They would also welcome greater emphasis on the potential role of the Treasury, through the tax and benefits system, in addressing health inequalities and improving the health of the population generally.

12. Responses may be sent:
13. The final date for responses is the 28th May 2004.

Recommendation

14. The Sub-Committee might wish to consider whether it wishes to respond to this consultation exercise.

Contact: Ian Mackenzie Tel: 0191 383 3673

Attachments

 Government Consultation on Public Health - 29 March.dot