Survey of health promotion organisational arrangements and levels of service for health promotion

Abstract

This study was promoted by the Executive Committee of the Association of Directors of Public Health when faced with the need to examine the organisation of and quantify health promotion arrangements in the Health Districts of England and Wales, resulting from the concerns of many of the members of the Association. These concerns were based on the views that health promotion is a key purchasing function of the District Health Authorities and must be appropriately and effectively structured and adequately resourced if the requirements of The Health of The Nation are to be fulfilled. There are many aspects to health promotion work and the delivery of health promotion services which will need addressing in the new commissioning environment of the NHS. A need was recognised for up-to-date data about health promotion services to inform a necessary debate about future arrangements, since it appeared that organisational change was being driven by influences unconnected with the possibly most appropriate structure of health promotion departments and which relate to a contemporary view of health promotion. Reducing the size and cutting the cost of commissioning authorities was perceived as one of the most important influences. A postal questionnaire survey to all Health District and Regional Health Authorities in England and Wales was conducted covering questions about the present organisational arrangements and levels of service, and soliciting the opinions of those canvassed. A total of 185 District and Regional Health Authorities, effectively reduced to 171 because of mergers, was sent questionnaires, of which 141 were completed and returned, giving a response rate of 82.5%. Most Health Promotion Units are currently purchaser-only based or split betweenpurchaser and provider bases. The majority of Districts have an establishment for a Director of Health Promotion, who is likely to be based at the purchaser level, Most directors have support staff. The median staff level in this survey is 7 WTEs (whole-time equivalents), and the level for the population served is 2.74/100,000. A little over 50% of respondents felt that health promotion should be a split purchaser and provider function, and there is evidence that this opinion has changed in recent years. This reflects concern expressed in comments made by respondents about the practical problems inherent in the separation of the purchaser and provider elements of health promotion activities, resulting from the ostensible requirements of the purchaser/provider reorientation in the NHS. The survey provides a picture of the present organisational arrangements in health promotion across the country and forms a basis for discussion of future developments. It highlights the problems of integrating all health promotion functions under a single management umbrella, purchaser or provider, and of the perceived importance of ensuring an adequate health promotion structure at the commissioning level.