Department of Health issues guidance on planning public health advice service

The Department said that the policy intention was to make it, through regulations issued under powers in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, a mandatory requirement for local authorities to provide healthcare public health advice to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

However, it added that the detail of these arrangements would need to be planned locally by CCGs and Directors of Public Health.

The changes will see the current resource in terms of public health expertise transfer from primary care trusts to upper tier and unitary local authorities as part of the ring-fenced public health budget.

The DH said: “This guidance is intended to support local public health teams and clinical commissioning groups in operationalising the new function. It has no legal force, but is intended as good practice to aid planning for delivery of this function.”

The guidance:

• Explains how the Department developed the proposed content of the healthcare public health advice services;
• Sets out an estimate of the capacity (in terms of people) which will be needed to deliver it at the local level; and
• Provides some suggested criteria CCGs could use to assess the quality of the service provided.

The document also contains examples of existing Memorandums of Understanding and has a frequently asked questions section.

A copy of Healthcare Public Advice Service to Clinical Commissioning Groups can be viewed here. It replaces the draft guidance issued by the Department of Health on 22 February.