Issue - meetings
Director of Public Health Annual Report
Meeting: 18/06/2013 - Cabinet (Item 67)
67 Director of Public Health Annual Report 
PDF 2 MB
Cabinet Member: Adult Services
Forward Plan Ref: 2012/148
Contact: Dr Jonathan McWilliam, Director of Public Health Tel: (01865) 336707
Report by Director of Public Health (CA9).
This is the 6th
Director of Public Health Annual Report for Oxfordshire. It is also the first Annual Report produced
since Public Health returned home to Local Government.
The purpose of a
Director of Public Health is to improve the health and wellbeing of the people
of Oxfordshire. This is done by
reporting publicly and independently on trends and gaps in the health and
wellbeing of the population in Oxfordshire and by making recommendations for
improvement to a wide range of organisations.
Producing a
report is now a statutory duty of Directors of Public Health and it is the duty
of the County Council to publish it.
The Director of
Public Health’s Annual Report is the main way in which Directors of Public
Health make their conclusions known to the public. This helps the Director of Public Health to
be an independent advocate for the health of the people of Oxfordshire.
The Annual Report
is scientific, factual, objective, focuses on long term gaps and makes clear
recommendations.
The priorities
highlighted In this Report include
·
An ageing population – the “demographic challenge”
·
Breaking the cycle of disadvantage
·
Mental health and wellbeing: avoiding a Cinderella
service
·
The rising tide of obesity
·
Excessive alcohol consumption
·
Fighting killer infections
These topics are
dealt with one by one. The current issues and recent action are laid out and
progress will be monitored in future reports.
Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to RECOMMEND Council
to receive the report and note its recommendations.
Minutes:
Cabinet considered the 6th
Director of Public Health Annual Report for Oxfordshire. The priorities
highlighted In this Report included
An ageing population – the
“demographic challenge”
Breaking the
cycle of disadvantage
·Mental health and wellbeing:
avoiding a Cinderella service
The rising tide of obesity
Excessive alcohol consumption
Fighting killer infections
Councillor Glynis Phillips, Shadow Cabinet Member
for Public Health and the Voluntary Sector drew attention to the helth inequality highlighted by varying life expectancy figures
across the County. The trend persisted and decisive action was needed. She commented
that there was a general feeling from the report that we could be doing better
across the public health agenda, even in areas where we were doing well. Councillor
Phillips raised a number of concerns and felt that there were some omissions such
as an update on children’s oral health and the use of district hospitals for brief
advice.
Councillor Hibbert-Biles introduced the contents
of the report which was the first one since public health returned to local government.
There was a statutory duty to prepare and publish the report which she commended
as being objective and with clear recommendations. She highlighted the priorities
set out in the report.
Cabinet discussed the report by priority area and endorsed the recommendations
at the end of each section.
RESOLVED: to RECOMMEND Council to receive the report and note its recommendations.