Your Health Your Environment
Sarah James
Environmental Health Manager
Watford Borough Council
Sandra Hone
Public Health Improvement Officer
Welwyn Hatfield Council
Jim’s aim:
“That we work together to turn an army of volunteers stakeholders and professionals across Hertfordshire into a health promoting army’’
Our aim:
You arrive as a member of your own discipline but leave as part of the public health army!
No pressure then!
Bringing the social model of health to the table
• Who is here?• Developing a better understanding about the
people around the table• Where are the links?• Developing a better understanding of the links
between our roles and the prevention of ill health• How do we work together for PH?• The value of sharing information• Working together to make a difference
Prevention of ill health is everyone’s business - Only 20% of health is attributable to NHS services.
Getting started – whose here?
• On your table……
• Introduce yourselves, who are you what does your role involve?
• Looking at the wider determinants slide on the table, discuss where you fit in this social model .
Consequences*Lost health potential *Long standing illness
and disability *Premature death
Outcomes*Circulatory diseases
*Accidents *Cancers *Mental illnessCauses
*Smoking *Substance misuse *Poor diet *Lack of exercise *Sexual
practices*Risk taking behaviour
Causes of causes*Poverty *Unemployment *Housing
*Transport *Environment *Discrimination *Social exclusion
Pathways to poor health and inequalities
Environmental Health
• Food safety• Health and safety at work• Noise• Pest control• Pollution• Comment on planning consultations and license
applications• Work in partnership to prevent homelessness and illegal
eviction• Litter and environmental crime (dumped rubbish)• Housing enforcement – private sector rented HMOs
A property approach:
Repair the obvious defects and leave.
The person centered approach:
Who lives here?
How do the defects affect their health or safety?
Other agencies?
Leaking roof
Single glazed windows
Broken boiler
overcrowding
Dealing with the causes of the
causes of ill health
Excess coldLeaking roof
You don’t need to eat the elephant all at once A toe nail will do .......
• Its too big • You may not have the whole picture• You don’t have any partners yet
• Starting small may provide good evidence for the way forward
• Other people may have already eaten their elephant can we learn from them? •Big game shooter may be outflanked by subtle local arrow.
January 31, 1983The law on seat belt wearing came into force.
drink driving 1967 legal limits
set
CHANGE
The public health jigsaw
• Information sharing
• Partnership working
• Risk taking
• Innovation
• Together better
• Working smarter
Activity
Consider the real life scenario on your table, as an army, how can you start to make a difference
together?
The scenario• Small town centre needs
redevelopment - former industrial site
• Delays due to financial pressures• Closed shops• Charity and £ shops opened• Too many fast food outlets
opened• Minor drug use and antisocial
behavior• Run down residential premises
above shops• Air quality management area • Poor lighting• Rubbish accumulations• Supportive and cohesive local
community• Low paid jobs and no affluence in
the community
Task
Using the skills and roles round the table:
1. Identify a couple of quick wins
2. Identify an achievable longer term partnership project
3. Identify who else needs to join your partnership
Coming together is a beginning;keeping together is progress; working together is success.Henry Ford
Sarah JamesEnvironmental Health Manager
Watford Borough Council
Sandra Hone Public Health Improvement Officer
Welwyn Hatfield Council