September 2011 Update

Healthy lives, healthy people: update and way forward

The policy statement Healthy Lives, healthy People; update and the way forward can be found at:

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance.

Within it there is some potentially exciting news for school health services which you need to alert your managers/commissioners and colleagues to.

Further information will come out of the DoH School nurse development programme.
Watch this space!!

Highlights

Page 12

Reflecting on the consultation responses and following the above principles, we plan to prescribe that local authorities deliver the following services or steps:

* appropriate access to sexual healthservices;
* steps to be taken to protect the health of the population, in particular, giving the Director of Public Health a duty to ensure there are plans in place to protect the health of the population;
* ensuring NHS commissioners receive the public health advice they need;
* the National Child Measurement Programme;
* NHS Health Check assessment;
* elements of the Healthy Child Programme.

Section 2.21

To ensure that we get the detail of the policy right, we will work further with stakeholders on the precise detail of the services to be prescribed in this way. The full list of local authority prescribed functions will be subject to Parliamentary approval when the regulations are made.

The Department has given due regard to equality in developing the vision and is carrying out a full equality analysis of the implications to inform and shape final proposals as well as a full impact assessment.

Sharon White
Professional Officer
School and Public Health Nurses Association