IFMH
Inform Volume 15, Number 3
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(pdf file)
CONTENTS:
Public health policy: the
issues, the future
David J Hunter,
Professor of Health Policy and Management, School for Health,
University of Durham Queen's Campus, and Chair, UK Public Health
AssociationIt is a critical time for
public health. Hardly a day goes by without the media highlighting
a public health issue or scare of one kind or another. Arguably,
public interest in the state of its health has never been
greater. With the publication of its white paper, the government
has demonstrated its commitment to tackling the nation’s poor
health and the growing health gap between rich and poor
(Department of Health 2004). Although the white paper is confined
to England, it is likely to have a ripple effect across the UK.
This article considers the events leading up to the white paper
and the future challenges facing public health. Adopting the
approach of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of
Physicians (UK), there are three domains: health protection,
health promotion, and health care performance. Of these, the
first two may be said to form the core purpose of public health
with the third being rather more contentious. The focus of this
article is on the second domain – health promotion – which,
arguably, is the weakest element of the public health function.
This article by is based on a presentation given at the
November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
The Health
Development Agency's approach to evidence
Professor Mike Kelly, Director of Evidence and
Guidance, Health Development Agency
This article by is based on a presentation given at the
November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
The Health Development Agency’s online information
resources
Heidi
Livingston,
Teresa Stevenson,
Marta Calonge-Contreras,
Health Development Agency
The Health Development Agency (HDA) is the
national authority on what works to improve people’s health and
health inequalities. To support this mission the HDA information
team has developed a range of online information resources with
the aim to gather, provide access to and disseminate information
on effective, evidence-based public health practice.
These
resources include the Public Health electronic Library (PHeL) (http://www.phel.gov.uk
), the HealthPromis bibliographic database (http://healthpromis.hda-online.org.uk),
the Evidence Base database (http://www.hda.nhs.uk/evidence)
and the National Public Health Language to index its resources.
This article by is based on a presentation given at the
November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
The media and
public health
Ruth Thorlby, King’s Fund
The media has a powerful role in
the efforts to change people’s behaviour in a healthy direction.
The government’s recent white paper on public health acknowledges
the importance of the media as a key source of information for
people as they attempt to make choices about what to eat and how
to live (Department of Health 2004). But how much do we know about
the extent and effect of the media’s coverage of health issues?
And can the media be any more than a powerful but essentially
uncontrollable force in public life, sometimes benign and
sometimes destructive?
This article by is based on a presentation given at the November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
Increasing
access to public health research: the work of the ESRC Centre for
Evidence-based Public Health Policy
Mark Petticrew, MRC Social and Public Health
Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow
This article by is based on a presentation given at the November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
Identifying
research evidence on the wider determinants of public health
Kath Wright,
Information Officer, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination,
University of York
This article describes a review of
systematic reviews relevant to the wider determinants of public
health being undertaken by CRD and funded by the Department of
Health’s Policy Research Programme.
This article by is based on a presentation given at the November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
Library and
Knowledge Management Service within the National Public Health
Service for Wales: outline of context and service developments
Margot Greer, Team Leader (retired) and Dinah
Roberts, Team Leader (current), Library and Knowledge Management
Service, National Public Health Service for Wales
This article by is based on a presentation given at the November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
SPHEN: Scottish
Public Health Evidence Network
Lynn Easton, Chair,
Scottish Public Health Evidence Network
The Scottish Public Health
Evidence Network (SPHEN) was formed in 2002 and is a working group
of the Scottish Health Information Network (SHINE). SHINE exists
to share services, sources, skills and knowledge about health
information across Scotland
http://www.shinelib.org.uk/.
This article by is based on a presentation given at the November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
The Yorkshire and
Humber Public Health Observatory
Lorraine Oldridge,
Business/Project Lead, Yorkshire and Humber Public Health
Observatory
This article by is based on a presentation given at the November 2004 IFMH study day
Quality
research-based information and the new public health agenda.
IFM Healthcare News Julie
Glanville, Acting Chair, Information
for the Management of Healthcare (IFMH)
IFMH Committee meeting: 15th
September 2004: digest of minutes
Karen Macpherson, Secretary, Information for the Management of
Healthcare (IFMH)
Public health: resource guide
Bertha Yuen Man Low, West
Midlands Library Services Development Unit
Surf's Up - Internet sites of interest
Caron Hartley, Research
Librarian, King's Fund Information and Library Service, and Anthea
Sutton, Information Officer (Reviews and Special Projects),
SCHARR.
Sidelines
Steve Duffy, Kate Light, Lisa Mather and Vickie
Orton, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York
The Sidelines abstracts in
this issue of Inform focus on developments in clinical trial
reporting, the potential additional morbidity data that may be
generated from NHS Direct, a survey into the use of complementary
medicine in the UK, and research into the effectiveness of the
internet as a resource for answering consumers’ health questions.
National
Library for Health update Alison Turner,
Library
Partnership Co-ordinator, National electronic Library for Health (NeLH)
NLH Management News Lynette Cawthra, Joint Project Manager,
NLH Management
National Library for Health Management Briefing 03/01:
The organisation and delivery of public health in England
Compiled by Caron Hartley
Please note that
this briefing was written before the publication of the
government’s white paper on public health, ‘Choosing Health’, on
16 November 2004. To become a member of IFM Healthcare and receive regular copies
of IFMH Inform, please see the information on
subscriptions.
Please note: Many Inform articles contain links
to web pages. These links were active at the date of publication
but IFMH cannot guarantee to maintain links to pages which have
subsequently moved or ceased to exist. | 
