National Public Health Service for Wales

My statement on the National Public Health Service for Wales has three main strands. Firstly, the new organisation and progress towards its establishment. Secondly, how it will work, its specific role in child protection, and how it relates to the development of the Health Protection Agency in England. Finally, the benefits that will result.

The term ‘public health’ covers many functions, including health promotion. In partnership with others inside and outside the NHS, it is the driving force behind our work to protect and improve people’s health, and to reduce the inequalities in health in Wales.

For Local Health Boards, protecting and improving people’s health sits alongside commissioning effective and efficient health services as an equal priority. Our targeted action to help people to improve their health is paying dividends in communities across Wales and the National Service will reinforce that.

The Service will exist from 1st April 2003. It will not have statutory functions but will provide essential resources and expertise for Local Health Boards, local authorities and NHS Trusts to fulfil theirs. It will bring together public health staff from health authorities with staff from the Public Health Laboratory Service in Wales, including staff of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Wales.

It will provide public protection, communicable disease surveillance, prevention and control, and laboratory services. It will help to assess local health needs, advise on evidence-based practice, promote health and well being, and develop the capacity for public health in Wales.  The Service will play a significant part in developing and implementing local Health, Social Care and Well Being Strategies.

The Service will be organised around three regions co-terminus with those of the NHS Wales Department. The Public Health Laboratory Service will be a business unit within the National Service.

The Director of the Service - Dr Cerilan Rogers - has already been appointed, as have three Regional Directors.

The Velindre NHS Trust will host the Service and was selected via an open process. The Trust has considerable experience of running all-Wales services and a strong track record. Their experience will help to develop the Service as a strong and efficient organisation.

Approximately 350 staff will transfer to the Service when it takes on the core functions of health authorities as will approximately 130 staff engaged on specific projects. Approximately 300 staff will transfer into the Service from Public Health Laboratory Service Wales. The transfer of staff is on track for completion by 1st April 2003.

The Service will provide each Local Health Board with a Local Public Health Director, who will be part of the Board’s management team. The Local Director will, as the main interface between the Board and the National Service, be accountable to the LHB Chief Executive for the delivery of services.  

The Director of the NHS Wales Department will be the Accounting Officer for the National Public Health Service. On performance and professional standards overall, the Service will be accountable to the Chief Medical Officer. Performance management will be achieved through Service Level Agreements.

The all-Wales NHS Child Protection Service will be a key part of the National Public Health Service and will cover all the functions currently ascribed to health authorities by the Children Act 1989 and in subsequent guidance, notably Working Together to Safeguard Children.
The designated doctors and nurses now based in Health Authorities will become part of the National Public Health Service. They will continue to work closely with Area Child Protection Committees, with local authorities, with Trusts and with LHBs as a vital source of professional advice to other health professionals and to social services departments.

The development of our National Service emerged from the Public Health Review. The Review looked at the functions of public health. It considered the different partners and roles needed for a comprehensive service needed to support and strengthen the function in Wales.

The Department of Health plans to establish the Health Protection Agency as a special health authority to take on functions under the NHS Act from 1 April 2003. This development for England has provided the opportunity to tailor arrangements in Wales.

The Assembly will retain health emergency planning functions and will work closely with experts in the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency.

The Public Health Laboratory Service has operated as an England and Wales body. The merging of the Public Health Laboratory Service in Wales with our public health resources means there will be a single organisation with the capacity and expertise to address communicable disease as an integrated part of wider action to protect and to improve people’s health. This development has widespread support and many benefits.

The new Service will harness to best effect the current skill base for public health in Wales and develop further our critical mass of public health expertise. It will lead to Wales-wide standards of practice and will strengthen professional and clinical networks.

Although regional offices will manage resources locally, it will be a national Service with resources and expertise available throughout Wales. Creating an integrated public health service to meet the needs of Local Health Boards and others will realise the advantages of local delivery and those of a national organisation. It will ensure effective deployment of resources.

This is a new beginning for public health in Wales. The development is supported by stakeholders including, importantly, the staff of public health services and the Public Health Laboratory Service Wales. The Service will work with customers to develop its services to ensure it can respond efficiently and effectively to demands made of it.

The Service will strengthen the public health capacity and infrastructure in Wales at no additional cost and it will work closely with the Wales Centre for Health.

I am confident that the development will help to make a difference to levels of health in Wales and thus a significant contribution to Wales’s social and economic well being.