Reaching further, moving faster for health and wellbeing in 2016
The end of 2016 marks the fourth year since the creation of PHE’s health and wellbeing directorate – a dynamic period marked by many major accomplishments and new challenges.
Childhood obesity: 4 important developments
As 2016 draws to a close it’s a good time to round up some recent developments in the battle against childhood obesity.
Preventing fires and protecting health
Fire and rescue services aren’t always one of the public sector services that come to mind when thinking about health and wellbeing, yet across the country they have been mobilising at pace to make an impact on the health of the …
Putting plans in place for a national science hub in Harlow
It is now just over a year since the Chancellor announced funding for a world class public health facility in Harlow, Essex. This new integrated science hub will allow PHE to embrace the advent of genome technology and big data …
Smoking in young people with mental health conditions – what do we know and what can we do?
In June 2015, we launched our guidance on smoking in secure mental health settings. The guidance summarised the strong evidence base relating to the harms of smoking for adults with mental health conditions and what could be practically implemented to …
Hertfordshire e-cigarettes policy aims to help smokers quit
This post was published when Public Health England had responsibility for health advice relating to e-cigarettes. For the most recent information please visit the NHS website or search for the topic on the gov.uk website. The number of people in …
Improving understanding of breast cancer survival in black women
Recently the British Journal of Cancer published a study on the short-term breast cancer survival in England in relation to ethnicity and key tumour characteristics. It shows that the excess mortality among black women with breast cancer is attributable to …
Promoting cognitive health in older adults
We recently published an evidence-based resource to support local authorities, commissioners and providers to promote cognitive health in older adults aged 55 and above. This is an important issue because, whilst the fact that people are living longer lives is …
It’s time for a truly smokefree NHS
Smokers huddled outside hospital doors are a common sight since smoking indoors was banned. Many are sick or caring for others and deserve our greatest compassion, yet continuing to normalise smoking in hospital settings is damaging the health of not …
Disability and work – a key space for action
On December 3 we mark an international day for people with disabilities, so as PHE's executive disability champion I thought it would be a good time to share a blog touching on the health and work agenda nationally and focusing …