Health Promotion And Ill-Health Prevention: General Practice
Quality in Primary Care 2011;19:317–23
# 2011 Radcliffe Publishing
Discussion paper
Health promotion and ill-health prevention: the role of general practice
Stephen Peckham BSc MA (Econ)
Reader in Health Policy, Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Alison Hann BA(Hons) PhD
Lecturer in Public Health and Health Policy, School of Health Sciences, Swansea University, Wales, UK
Tammy Boyce PhD
National Centre for Infection Prevention and Management, Imperial College, London, UK
ABSTRACT
Background This paper reports on research undertaken for the King’s Fund inquiry into quality in general practice and examines the health promotion role of the general …show more content…
Many GPs state they lack the skills needed to deliver effective health promotion.
Conclusions Issues, such as GP commissioning, provide a new set of challenges for public health and ill-health prevention. The evidence base is growing but general practice, public health and academics need to work together to improve this.
Keywords: general practice, health promotion, public health
How this fits in with quality in primary care
What do we know?
Primary care is seen as a key building block of public health and there is increasing interest in extending and incentivising the public health role of GPs.
What does this paper add?
These are significant challenges to ensure that good quality prevention and health promotion services are delivered within general practice. These include expressed lack of skills among GPs, reorganisation of health services, the changing workforce and the lack of evidence for effectiveness or cost-effectiveness for many public health interventions in general practice.
Introduction
There has been a growing interest in the role of primary care and general practice in public health, with primary care seen as a key building block of public health.1,2 In the UK, general practice …show more content…
There is some limited literature in these areas
(especially mental health and eye care) but further work is needed to identify effective preventive interventions in primary care. Further research is also needed to identify the appropriate balance between universal, opportunistic and targeted health promotion interventions. For example, in relation to vision impairment, evidence to date suggests that such universal approaches bring limited benefit and current screening tests not currently included in universal programmes, such as those for glaucoma and intraocular pressure testing, may provide an important targeted, preventive screening intervention for vision impairment.34,35 The converse is true for auditory screening where a universal programme – especially for over-75s
– would lead to substantial benefits although it would place additional strains on NHS hearing services.36
Similar debates exist in relation to targeted, opportunistic and universal screening for diabetes and cardiovascular disease and are clearly relevant
# 2011 Radcliffe Publishing
Discussion paper
Health promotion and ill-health prevention: the role of general practice
Stephen Peckham BSc MA (Econ)
Reader in Health Policy, Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Alison Hann BA(Hons) PhD
Lecturer in Public Health and Health Policy, School of Health Sciences, Swansea University, Wales, UK
Tammy Boyce PhD
National Centre for Infection Prevention and Management, Imperial College, London, UK
ABSTRACT
Background This paper reports on research undertaken for the King’s Fund inquiry into quality in general practice and examines the health promotion role of the general …show more content…
Many GPs state they lack the skills needed to deliver effective health promotion.
Conclusions Issues, such as GP commissioning, provide a new set of challenges for public health and ill-health prevention. The evidence base is growing but general practice, public health and academics need to work together to improve this.
Keywords: general practice, health promotion, public health
How this fits in with quality in primary care
What do we know?
Primary care is seen as a key building block of public health and there is increasing interest in extending and incentivising the public health role of GPs.
What does this paper add?
These are significant challenges to ensure that good quality prevention and health promotion services are delivered within general practice. These include expressed lack of skills among GPs, reorganisation of health services, the changing workforce and the lack of evidence for effectiveness or cost-effectiveness for many public health interventions in general practice.
Introduction
There has been a growing interest in the role of primary care and general practice in public health, with primary care seen as a key building block of public health.1,2 In the UK, general practice …show more content…
There is some limited literature in these areas
(especially mental health and eye care) but further work is needed to identify effective preventive interventions in primary care. Further research is also needed to identify the appropriate balance between universal, opportunistic and targeted health promotion interventions. For example, in relation to vision impairment, evidence to date suggests that such universal approaches bring limited benefit and current screening tests not currently included in universal programmes, such as those for glaucoma and intraocular pressure testing, may provide an important targeted, preventive screening intervention for vision impairment.34,35 The converse is true for auditory screening where a universal programme – especially for over-75s
– would lead to substantial benefits although it would place additional strains on NHS hearing services.36
Similar debates exist in relation to targeted, opportunistic and universal screening for diabetes and cardiovascular disease and are clearly relevant