The report and toolkit was developed in close collaboration with representative bodies and individuals working in the professional groups which it is aimed at, specifically nurses and midwives, allied health professionals, pharmacy and dental staff. It was also informed by a national survey of healthcare professionals and input from an expert advisory group.
The findings from the survey of healthcare professionals showed that the majority (70 per cent) believe protecting and promoting the public’s health is important. Despite this fewer than one in five (19 per cent) currently measure the public health impact of their day to day work. The main barriers to collecting, recording and collating data from public health interventions included time, capacity and training.
Based on the public health priorities identified by Public Health England’s All Our Health framework, including obesity, alcohol and smoking, the toolkit provides healthcare professionals with guidelines to recording and collating their work so it makes an impact.
- Do – focuses on the brief intervention a healthcare professional might undertake with their patient or client, such as signposting to relevant services.
- Record – this relates to what information the healthcare professional would record, such as categorising a referral and recording measurements, such as BMI.
- Collate – is about capturing the data over a period of time for multiple individuals.
- Impact – brings all of this together and captures the likely impact their service is having in a local area, as well as the national public health priorities that these interventions will impact upon;
Shirley Cramer, chief executive of RSPH and chair of the government’s advisory group, People in UK Public Health, welcomed the toolkit; she said, “It is very clear that the healthcare workforce already has a positive impact on the public’s health through their everyday interactions with patients. Our hope is that this resource will provide healthcare professionals with simple, quick and effective guidelines for recording and measuring the impact of their activities on the public’s health. This will be invaluable in better understanding and demonstrating to commissioners and others the huge potential which exists to improve and protect the public’s health through brief interventions such as signposting.”
Linda Hindle, lead allied health professional for Public Health England, said, “Allied health professionals regularly provide public health support and advice as ‘part of the job’ and this toolkit helps them record and measure their public health contribution in identifying health inequalities and, ultimately, in preventing early deaths.”
Viv Bennett, chief nurse for Public Health England, said, “All health and care professionals play a vital role in encouraging and supporting people to care for their own health and wellbeing. Nurses and midwives are developing their practice and services that promote and protect health and wellbeing. This toolkit will enable them to record and measure the public health impact of care provided to individuals’ families and communities.”
Gul Root, lead public health pharmacist for Public Health England, said, “Community pharmacy teams play a vital role in supporting people to look after their health and regularly provide timely health promoting support and advice. This is often seen as being part of their everyday practice so this toolkit will help them document and measure their invaluable contribution to improving the nation’s health.”
In addition to the report, RSPH has also developed a free e-learning package for healthcare professionals to provide them with an easy-to-use guide. The report along with access to the e-learning is available www.rsph.org.uk/interactions