The  Report Written Assessment

The written assignment for Module 2 is a 3000 word Health Needs Assessment reviewing local, national and world health patterns and wellbeing outcomes. You will choose a locality familiar to you and identify one public health need within this area. You will highlight the implications for healthcare for this public health need.  Additionally for your selected health need you will identify and understand the local health services available and the role of the nurse in health promotion delivery.

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Learning outcomes that the Public Health report covers

• Demonstrate knowledge of epidemiology, demography, genomics and the wider determinants of health, illness and wellbeing and apply this to an understanding of global patterns of health and wellbeing outcomes (LO 1)
• Discuss and explain the factors that may lead to inequalities in health outcomes. (LO 2)
• Consider how mental, physical, behavioural and other health related outcomes may be improved by understanding and explaining the principles, practice and evidence-base for health screening programmes. (LO4)
• Apply understanding of national and local data related to the health care needs and associated services of a local population. (LO5)

Outline of Report

1. Undertake a virtual research tour that explores the health needs of a chosen community, the social services and the health services available to people, in the communities in which they live, and identify a contemporary public health concern. (1500 words)

• Choose one county / locality (where your placement is or your local home area)
• Gather insight data on ONE prevalent public health concern.
• This data should be gathered from local joint strategic needs assessments around the health of your chosen population, in your chosen community and in relation to your field of nursing about e.g Childhood obesity rates or dental decay if you are a child nurse, rates of mental ill health like depression if you are a mental health nurse, or rates of cancer, smoking or long term conditions if you are an adult nurse.
• Needs assessments data information is collated in countywide public health insight data in PHE local authority health profiles. Supportive data and information can also be found in NHS digital, Office of National statistics, NHS England
• Record and report on your chosen public health concern using tables, graphs and a written summary of the data.
• Compare this to national and worldwide figures. What implications can you draw from this?
• Identify any health determinants and inequalities in your chosen locality which may impact on the public health issue you have identified, and the overall health of this community. Relate your findings to social data such as employment rates, level of education, economic deprivation

2. Review the services and health care that is available for the public health need that you have chosen (1000 words)

• Identify local, national services, charities available for your public health concern
• Look at the role of the nurse in health promotion
• Review any screening provided in this area if applicable

Structure

1. Introduction: (300 words)

Briefly highlight what the report is about, the reason for the report, the locality you are discussing and the local public health concern you have chosen to identify specific healthcare services and review the role of the nurse in promoting health in this area.

2) Undertake a virtual research tour of your local health, social services, and health services to identify key areas of public health concern. (600 words)

1. a) Choosing a locality: (100 words)

• • Choose one area or locality

  • The local area you study in this area should be:

    • Somewhere that interests you and/or which you are familiar with (placement area or local home area)

    • One which you can use published data to inform a discussion about social and health care needs in that area

  • Detail your choice of area.

  • NB: It would be better to pick a county as your locality because you are more likely to get reliable data (If data collection is not at 90% of the population it will not be recorded in the figures and merely be left blank).

1. b) Collect and discuss social and health data about that area that you have chosen: 

Finding Statistics and Information:

• • Gather insight data on ONE prevalent public health need

  • This data should be gathered fromlocal joint strategic needs assessments (JSNA) around the health of your chosen population, in your chosen community and in relation to your field of nursing e.g. Childhood obesity rates if you are a child nurse, rates of mental ill health like depression or suicide if you are a mental health nurse, or rates of cancer, smoking or long term conditions if you are an adult nurse.

  • Utilise information from reputable source using Public health England Local Authority Health Profiles(Links to an external site.) 

  • Other sights that will support the data in your assignment could include NHS digital(Links to an external site.), Office of National statistics (Links to an external site.) , and NHS England Data Catalogue. (Links to an external site.)

  • Identify one key health and social care issue in your chosen locality by reviewing the epidemiology and prevalence of this data, e.g. Childhood obesity rates if you are a child nurse, rates of mental ill health like depression or suicide if you are a mental health nurse, or rates of cancer, smoking or long term conditions if you are an adult nurse

Demonstrate The Statistics (100 words)

• • Demonstrate this data in tables, graphs or pie chart and in a brief written summary

  • Identify your sources  

Discuss The Statistics: (400 words)

• • Discuss what the data suggests about public health care need in that area and the implications for health care. Support this information with key research that may validate your findings

  • Within your discussion compare your findings to national and worldwide figures. What implications can you draw from this?

3. Identify the determinants, inequalities and barriers to health: (800 words)

• Within your locality, identify the environmental, societal, and social determinants of health (like poverty, education, culture, economy, geography, and gender) that create health inequalities.

• Health inequalities are unfair avoidable differences between groups of people. Look at the differences in the status of people’s health such as the life expectancy, access to care, behavioural risk factors from the data. E.g. It may be that this particular county that has higher suicide rates than the rest of the UK, find out why this might be the case.

• You can use publications such as the Kings Fund(Links to an external site.), NHS England (Links to an external site.), Public Health England outcomes framework (Links to an external site.),  Org (Links to an external site.), Naidoo and Wills Foundations for Health Promotion Book (chapter 2 and 3) or any other health promotion text book to help develop your discussion.

• Try to really understand the determinants that have impacted to create this health inequality causing an health need in this area.

4. Review the services and health care that are available for the public health need that you have chosen (1000 words)

5. a) Identify local, national policy, services, charities available for your public health concern

• • For example if you have chosen rising teenage depression the services might include GP, CPFT, counselling, NHS therapy, CBT, MIND, Lifecraft, Samaritans

  • Highlight briefly what these services provide and what the local / national guidance recommends, e.g. Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust (CPFT), National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), Public Health England (PHE), Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

1. b) Look at the role of the nurse in health promotion and screening in this area

• • Highlight what nurses do in identifying the health issue and any screening if applicable for the public health need you have identified, e.g. practice nurses and the use of screening tools to identify depression

  • Once the health concern is identified look at what the nurse does to make every contact count and to empower the patient to make healthy choices e.g. discussing a change  model and apply to the patient who is contemplating change like the empowerment model

  • What health promotion services does the nurse provide, e.g. for depression trained mental health primary care nurse, face-to-face patient contact, clinical supervision, planning meetings, role development, communication and dissemination with the rest of the primary health-care team, and preparation of materials for patient use

5. Conclusion:  (300 words)

Summarise the findings in your essay and make recommendations for future practice

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