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Health protection
'Health protection' is the field of public health concerned with
protecting the public from environmental hazards to health. This is
primarily infectious (communicable) disease, but also includes other hazards
such as radiation.
In England health protection functions are overseen by the Health
Protection Agency (HPA), an executive Government agency independent of the
NHS. Local areas are served by a Health Protection Unit (HPU), which work in
conjunction with GPs, hospital doctors, microbiology labs, and local
authority Environmental Health departments.
Between May and August 2005 I was based at the Thames Valley (TV) Health
Protection Unit. Within the Thames Valley there are three regional
Health Protection Teams - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Health Protection Agency |
More on HPA structure |
TVHPU
The majority of work in local HPUs consists of disease outbreak
management. This includes keeping tabs on gastroenteritis outbreaks
due to viruses in community hospitals, nursing homes and nurseries;
food-borne outbreaks ('food poisoning') which are dealt with in conjunction
with the local council Environmental Health team; single occurrences of
diseases with potential public health consequences (e.g. a case of bacterial
meningitis or tuberculosis); and immunisation against disease. The HPA
also plays an integral part in emergency planning (see below) for incidents
which could potentially put the public's health at risk. At regional
and national levels the Agency also provides information on nuclear and
radiological threats to health.
You can get an idea of recent health protection incidents from websites
listed on the
News
sources page.
The Health Protection Agency released a report in 2005 entitled 'Health
Protection in 21st Century' which aims to highlight those conditions causing
significant morbidity and mortality in the UK and which pose an ongoing and
future threat.
Health Protection in the 21st Century - Understanding the burden of disease;
preparing for the future (HPA, November 2005)
Emergency planning guidance was updated in 2005 by the Department of
Health. Emergency planning has become an important topic in the NHS
and HPA portfolio recently with a climate of increased risk of terrorism as
well as the potential threat from a flu pandemic. Seen in a broader
context, the extension of healthcare to pre-empting and dealing with major
incidents should be seen as an obvious - and still underdeveloped - target
for public health intervention.
This guidance confirmed the replacement of the JHAC (joint health advisory
cell) and HAG (health advisory group) which may be called to meet in the
event of a major incident, by the HAT (health advice team). This was
more recently superseded in April 2007 by the STAC (scientific and technical
advice cell).
Glossary of public health terms (Internal link)
NHS Emergency planning guidance 2005 (DH, October 2005)
STAC advice (DH, April 2007)
Flu pandemic planning (Internal
link)
Health protection organisations - UK
Health Protection Agency (HPA)
National Public
Health Service for Wales (NPHS)
Health Protection Scotland (HPS)
Department of
Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS, NI)
Health protection organisations - International
European Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control (ECDC)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC)
World Health Organisation (WHO)
International Association of National Public
Health Associations (IANPHI)
Surveillance organisations/publications
Eurosurveillance - European
disease monitoring
ProMed - International disease
monitoring
MedISys
- Real-time media monitoring for health protection-related stories
UK resources - immunisation
My
summary of UK immunisation schedule (pdf, 41kb, April 2006)
'Green Book' on immunisations in the UK (DH, regularly updated)
NHS Immunisations website
Summary of international immunisation schedules (WHO)
UK resources - local health protection units
Thames Valley HPU
Cumbria & Lancashire HPU
UK resources - travel health
Fit For Travel |
NaTHNaC
UK resources - find a GP
DH - find GP by
postcode (England)
NHS Wales directory (Wales)
NHS
Scotland - find GP by postcode (Scotland)
UK resources - other
List of notifiable diseases in England (HPA, 2006)
Infection control guidance for care homes (DH, June 2006)
Post-exposure prophylaxis for
HIV following sexual exposure (PEPSE) guidelines (BASHH, February 2006)
British National Formulary