Health protection is a broad, dynamic and versatile field that encompasses a set of activities within public health. Health protection in the UK is one domain, out of three, of Public health: health protection, health improvement and healthcare public health (Table 1). All three domains work in a tendon, and in practice, health protection is not delivered in isolation (1). It is defined as protecting individuals, groups and populations from the impact of a single case of infectious disease, outbreaks and environmental chemical and radiological threats through expert advice and effective collaboration (1,2).
|
Domains of Public Health
in UK |
||
|
1. Heath Protection |
2. Health Improvement |
3. Health -care Public
Health |
Table 1: The three domains of Public Health UK.
The primary function
of health protection is to deal with public health emergencies, such as
communicable and non-communicable diseases, as a front-line defence. It also
deals with chronic health situations with acute or chronic manifestations, such
as contaminated land, air, or water. Other health protection functions include
evidence gathering (surveillance) for intelligence and emergency preparedness
by anticipating future issues, incidents, emergencies, and other health threats
(1).
Health protection UK consists of
three interrelated domains: communicable disease control, emergency preparedness,
resilience and response (EPRR), and environmental public health (Table 2) (1). Health
protection service can begin by protecting an individual from an E. coli
infection, for example. Then it can go into the community to deal with an
outbreak of measles in a community with multiple outbreaks in schools that puts
a burden on the local hospital, for example. Health protection services provided
in all the three domains, regardless of the scope sizes; small or large, are
supported and underpinned by:
2. strong multiagency partnerships,
3. clear and robust epidemiology,
4. supportive science (microbiology, toxicology, environmental sciences, clinical sciences, and radiation science),
5. timely audit,
6. focused research,
7. clear communication strategy, and
8. learning and development".
Lack of incidents, outbreaks, new and emerging diseases,
disasters can be used to judge the effectiveness of health protection services.
However, not all incidents and disasters can be predicted or/and prevented in
practice (1).
Domains of Public Health in UK | ||
1. Communicable disease control | 2. Emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR | 3. Environmental public health |
Table 2: The three domains of Health Protection.
In the UK, health protection is delivered by public health agencies in each nation with a statutory duty to protect, address inequalities, and promote the nation's health and well-being. Public Health England (PHE) in England (Public Health England), Public Health Wales in Wales (Public Health Wales), Health Protection Scotland in Scotland (Health Protection Scotland), and Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland (Public Health Agency). As part of a national specialist health protection system, the UK has a defined local specialist health protection service. Its delivery, both at the local and national level, requires multiagency, working with other public bodies, for instance, the National Health Service (NHS), local authorities and the Food Standards Agency (1).
Health protection requires specialist knowledge and
skills provided by a multidisciplinary team, including nurses, practitioners,
doctors, surveillances, and administrative staff. They work closely with colleagues
in public health agencies, environmental health departments, hospital
microbiologists and infection and prevention control teams, GPs, community
specialists and educational institutions (1,2).
Health Protection teams are split into regions to
provide local specialist support to prevent and reduce the impact of infectious
diseases, hazards, and major emergencies, depending on the epidemiological
needs. They provide services in surveillance and monitoring of infectious diseases,
strategic health protection work, emergency planning and operational support, and
education and training for health care professionals and the general public.
Areas of health protection teams' expertise include immunisations, gastrointestinal
infections, water-borne diseases, environmental hazards, travel-associated infections,
and infection control & hospital-acquired infections & respiratory infections
such as tuberculosis (2).
There is a statutory duty requirement for registered medical practitioners to notify the proper officer through the local health protection team of any suspected or confirmed cases of certain infectious diseases for surveillance purposes. There are 60 causative agents and 32 notifiable diseases (2,3).
In summary, Health Protection UK is one of three domains of the public health field and provides protective services from infectious diseases and environmental threats from individuals and communities. Health protection requires multidisciplinary teams that are highly skilled and knowledgeable. The responsibility of health protection lies with public health agencies that have a statutory duty to protect and promote health and well-being.
References
(1) Sam Ghebrehewet, Alex G.
Stewart, and Ian Rufus. What is a health Protection. In: Samuel Ghebrehewet,
Alex G. Stewart, David Baxter, Paul Shears, David Conrad, and Merav Kliner.
(ed.) Health protection. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2016.
(2) Royal College of Nursing. Health
protection. Available from: https://www.rcn.org.uk/clinical-topics/public-health/health-protection
[Accessed 25 Apr 2021].
(3) Health Protection
Surveillance Centre. Notifiable Diseases and their respective causative
pathogens. Available from: https://www.hpsc.ie/notifiablediseases/listofnotifiablediseases/List%20of%20Notifiable%20Diseases%20February%202020.pdf
[Accessed 30 Apr 2021].
