What you can expect from Halton Public Health Directorate

Public Health’s role is to help people living and working in Halton to live long lives in good health.

 Public Health focuses on preventing people from getting ill in the first place by protecting them from harm; promoting good health and wellbeing; and by providing information and advice to support the delivery of good quality services. This includes an emphasis on the reduction of health inequalities.  Throughout the pandemic the Halton outbreak support team provided advice, information and also support to stop the spread of COVID-19. The team continues to provide advice and signposting around a range of topics including health protection and the wider determinants of health.

 Our vision is to live more years in good health whilst creating health equity, a public health system that supports all partners through the following:

1. Work with our partners to reduce the influence of the wider determinants of health
2. Our teams will work on continuously improving healthy behaviours and outcomes across the life course
3. Our teams will protect the public from biological and environmental threats to health
4. We will focus on prevention and early intervention, improving physical and mental well-being and resilience across the community
5. We will reach the community to co create and deliver targeted interventions to the most needy whilst continuing to provide a universal offer
6. We will commission cost effective services that cover the mandatory Public Health services
7. Support the use of research, data and intelligence to make evidence based decisions about health planning and ensure we use evaluation, performance and outcomes in a way that they inform our future planning
8. Develop our workforce to be resilient, and able to achieve their full potential through learning and other support
9. Continue to provide our core offer to the NHS

We will also commission preventative and treatment services, working across the council, with the NHS and other partners.

These services include:

• Healthy child programme 0-19 years
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Sexual health services
• Tobacco control
• Substance misuse and alcohol services
• NHS health check programme

How we support local people

Our programmes can help improve health and support with:

• Children and young people
• Getting active
• Getting to a healthy weight
• Stopping smoking
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Mental health emergencies
• Sexual health
• Accessing NHS health checks
• Alcohol or drug misuse
• Health and wellbeing in the workplace
• Ageing well
• Finding information and data about Halton through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). We identify the key issues affecting the health and wellbeing of our residents, both now and in the future. The JSNA forms the basis of all commissioning plans across health, social care, public health and children’s service.  This ongoing process includes reviewing a wide range of information and data, as well as service user and community views.

More Information

We also work with local businesses and organisations to provide education and training services to help local people make healthy choices.  Contact us on 0300 029 0029 or get in touch to find out our services.

More information is available from our Annual Public Health Report

Director of Public Health: Dr Ifeoma Onyia