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Choosing Health? A consultation on improving people's health

  • Launch date:
    3 March 2004
  • Closing date:
    28 June 2004
  • Creator/s:
    Department of Health
  • Audience:
    Health and social care professionals
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown
  • Gateway number:
    2840

This 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

Preface

Record levels of investment in the NHS are an indication of the government’s commitment to improving the health of public – enabling us all to live active and fulfilled lives. This encompass more than just treating people when they are ill; of fundamental importance is taking action to safeguard health and prevent problems before they occur.

On 3rd February, the Secretary of State for Health, John Reid, announced a consultation on improving public health. We see this consultation as an opportunity for all interested parties –  the NHS, local government, non-governmental organisations, schools, employers, industry, the media, central government and individuals themselves - to contribute to a debate on how we together can create the opportunities for everyone to enjoy the best health that is possible for them.

Government clearly has an important role in this, but is by no means the only player. That is why we want to hear from as many people as possible during the course of the consultation, which will be formally launched next month. We are committed to producing a White Paper setting out next steps later in the year.

Awareness of public health is continuing to grow and the consistent media coverage of health improvement illustrates that there is an appetite for a wide ranging public health debate.

The Consultation

  • The consultation will run from the beginning of March for 16 weeks, ending on 28 June 2004. There are several strands to the consultation:
  • Local consultation and events led by Primary Care Trusts and Local Authorities working within the framework of their Local Strategic Partnerships;
  • Regional consultation led by Directors of Public Health;
  • National consultation around seven identified themes led by task groups
  • Other national activities and events will feed into the consultation process led by the Department of Health and other Government Departments;
  • Invitations to the public to contribute their views and ideas directly; and
  • The opportunity for stakeholders, including the public sector, voluntary organisations, professional organisations, industry and the media, to contribute to the debate.

Resource Pack

The full consultation document in addition to a summary document, summary presentation and a cover sheet for submissions is available on the links below.

Consultation Participation Pro-forma for PCTs, SHAs and Government Offices

The proforma asks for information on all the consultation events which have been staged at a local level - type of event, size and nature of audience reached, key messages etc. This information is required for audit purposes so that the Department has records on the reach of the consultation that will inform the policy to be set out in the white paper planned for this summer. All PCTs, SHAs and GOs will need to complete and return the form.

The deadline for the completion of the forms is 28 June, and they should be returned to: heather.white@doh.gsi.gov.uk

Consultation Factsheets

Additional information regarding many of the issues associated with public health are available below.

Different Language Versions

The consultations document has been translated into eight different languages, all of which are available below.

Easy Guide

An 'Easy guide' to the Choosing Health? consultation document is available on the link below

Those leading the consultation may well wish to develop this resource pack further to ensure that the debate they are leading is firmly focused on the local picture.  For example, alongside the national picture of the health of the nation, as described in the factsheets, local statistics on some of the key determinants of health could be used.

Further materials will be adapted for use in the consultations. These will be available from the consultation team (details below).

The Department of Health is happy to consider suggestions for further material to be developed.  We are also happy to place information about local activity on our website. 

Related Choosing Health consultations

Contact Information

Contributions

The consultation will run for 4 months and the deadline for contributions will be 28 June 2004. However we welcome contributions at any time during this period.  In particular, if there are any emerging issues, earlier in the debate, we can feed these into the meetings of the task groups. You may use the coversheet for submissions document above to reply.

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