Public Health England’s role

Public Health England (PHE) are at the forefront of supporting the Governments Coronavirus Covid-19 strategy .  PHE’s remit is to “protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities”.

We have seen our amazing colleagues at the heart of shaping the response to this crisis and their efforts, together with others across public services, are inspiring and humbling.  PPMA is liaising regularly with colleagues from the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) to ensure we can deliver the most up to date advice and materials.

ADPH and the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) are working with a range of organisations to develop approved materials for use in our organisations.

To support the work of Public Health in reducing Covid-19 transmission and enable self-isolation, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock announced on 10th February legislation.  You can read more about the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 here.

Each of the 4 UK Nations has it’s own national public health agency.

If you need information about Public Health England Regions, Local Centres and Emergency Contacts you can find it here.

If you are in any doubt about any public health related matter, you should talk to your local Director of Public Health.  You can find yours here.

Tracking Covid-19 cases 

It may be helpful for you to be aware of the situation in your locality.  Public Health England is responsible for tracking cases and reports them according to Upper Tier Local Authority and NHS Region.  The information is updated daily.

  • You can view the information in desktop form here
  • You can view the information in mobile device for here.

Key topics 

Public Health colleagues are working on a broad range of strategic issues. For HR & OD professionals, the most relevant and which have maximum impact on our workforces are:

  • Social Distancing
  • Self Isolation
  • Infection control.

Work that is being done on health and wellbeing is included in our Being well, staying well page.

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Disclaimer: PPMA is a membership association for public service HR & OD professionals. We do not attempt to provide scientific analysis or interpretation.  Our aim with these pages is to provide the most comprehensive view of available and relevant Co-vid 19 resources for our community. We will keep these materials as up to date as resources permit.

Official Public Health Guidance 

In addition to the official guidance documents shared on other web pages in this hub, here are additional Public Health documents that you need to be aware of.

Podcast and video resources

Do you want to contribute?

If you would like to share resources with us we would love to hear from you.  You can email Karen at [email protected] or Grace at [email protected].

Social Distancing

Social distancing focuses on reducing interaction between people.  As HR & OD professionals latest guidance needs to be taken into account as we work through the lock down and beyond.

The latest full guidance (updated 30/03/2020) on social distancing for vulnerable people needs to be considered for colleagues working with them. You can find the guidance here.  A summary is as follows:

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You can watch a short BBC video on social distancing here.

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Another term, social shielding is also being used.  Essentially shielding refers to the most vulnerable too.  You can watch a helpful video here:

Self-isolation

Self isolation is required if someone is displaying the symptoms of Co-vid 19.  Current and comprehensive stay at home guidance for households with a suspected Co-vid 19 infection is here and will need to be taken into account for Workforce staffing purposes.

There are some easy to access, helpful videos here:

Coping with self isolation – top tips, Hertfordshire Public Health Team

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Preventing Co-vid 19 infection

Prevention is better than cure.  It’s a motto we have all heard before and arguably it’s critical to remember and practice that now.  Staying healthy and clean is vital.

There are a number of ways we need to think about infection control:

  • People
  • Surfaces

These are a small number of materials available for you to use.  You can access a full range of media resources available for use in your organisations at the Public Health England campaign resource centre here.

Posters:

Public Health Materials

In this section, you will find a wide range of resources about the work our Public Health colleagues are doing on Co-vid 19 and how it is relevant to HR & OD professionals.  

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PPMA Community Updates

This section provides contains information about the key issues that you are all dealing with to respond to Co-vid 19.  It covers issues such as remote working, redeployment, supporting our leaders and managers and so on.

You can also find examples of great work being done by PPMA members and colleagues across public services.

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Useful links

There is a wealth of material available on Coronavirus Co-vid 19.  We’ve picked out the best for you.

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Behavioural Science

We have been hearing alot about the role of behaviour science in the Governments response to Co-vid 19.  You can find out much more about the science here and examples that you can use in your organisations.

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Being well, staying well

Keeping well ourselves and supporting others in these unprecedented times is going to be critical. 

You can find a wide range of resources here to help and support you.

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Myth Busters

What’s real and what’s fantasy?

Working out what’s real and what isn’t can be difficult at the best of times.  But in this pandemic, sharing the wrong information can literally risk lives.  We’ve pulled together the best of the myth busters information available and we will keep this updated.

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