Health protection

Please note this is an article from the archive and has not been recently updated. For current articles please click here.

Introduction

'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

Responsibilities of the HPA

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.

Health protection priorities

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

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)

Useful health protection resources

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