Question

What are the different health agencies in England, and what is each agency trying to accomplish and why?

Answer 1

Ans) Public Health England (PHE) is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) which is the expert national public health agency which fulfils the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s statutory duty to protect health and address inequalities, and executes his power to promote the health and wellbeing of the nation.

It was established on 1st April 2013 to bring together public health specialists from more than 70 organisations into a single public health service, which has a mission to protect and improve the nation’s health and to address inequalities.

- PHE has operational autonomy from DHSC and has an Advisory Board with a non-executive Chairman and non-executive members.

It works transparently, proactively providing government, local government, the NHS, MPs, industry, public health professionals and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific and delivery expertise and advice.

- PHE ensures there are effective arrangements in place nationally and locally for preparing, planning and responding to health protection concerns and emergencies, including the future impact of climate change. PHE provides specialist health protection, epidemiology and microbiology services across England.

- Upper tier and unitary local authority have a legal duty to improve the public’s health and local Health and Wellbeing Boards bring together key local partners (including Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) who have a duty to address health inequalities) to agree local priorities. PHE supports local authorities, and through them, CCGs by providing evidence and knowledge on local health needs, alongside practical and professional advice on what to do to improve health, and by taking action nationally where it makes sense to do so. PHE in turn is the public health adviser to NHS England.

PHE is responsible for:

• making the public healthier and reducing differences between the health of different groups by promoting healthier lifestyles, advising government and supporting action by local government, the NHS and the public;
protecting the nation from public health hazards;
• preparing for and responding to public health emergencies;
• improving the health of the whole population by sharing their information and expertise, and identifying and preparing for future public health challenges;
• supporting local authorities and the NHS to plan and provide health and social care services such as immunisation and screening programmes, and to develop the public health system and its specialist workforce; and
researching, collecting and analysing data to improve our understanding of public health challenges, and come up with answers to public health problems.