Short weekly update from the CEO of Public Health England (PHE), including:

• PHE vaccination programme – in particular the MenACWY vaccination which protects against four different causes of meningitis and septicaemia and is given to teenagers who are in school years 9 or 10
• launch of the latest phase of PHE’s national ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ awareness campaign
• National Infection Service has organised a series of workshops with PHE scientists to give a better understanding of what they need for technical and professional development
• London’s leaders, including PHE London, have committed to work with Londoners to tackle stigma towards and discrimination of mental health problems
• PHE aims to be a place where people can do their best work and that means welcoming and celebrating diversity.  This includes the introduction of their first LGBT Mentoring Circle, led by two senior LGBT staff; expanding membership of their PHE Rainbow Alliance (PHERA) and their PHERA Allies Network

Duncan Selbie's Friday message: 7 July 2017

Short weekly update from the CEO of Public Health England (PHE), including:

• the period of pre-election sensitivity comes into effect on Thursday 13 April and all organisations in receipt of public funds need to take great care during this time. And so the next Friday message will be on 5 May.
• publication of PHE’s annual business plan for 2017/18, which replicates the high level objectives set out in the remit letter that they have received from Ministers. This plan sets out where we will focus our efforts over the next year, from building the economic case for prevention, working to create a fairer society by addressing the health gap between the richest and the poorest and continuing to invest in and promote our world class science in the UK and around the world.
• the plan speaks to the results of PHE’s recent stakeholder survey, carried out by Ipsos MORI, which shows that their many stakeholders feel PHE is maturing as an organisation
• the appointment of Sir Derek Myers by Ministers as Interim Chair of PHE’s Advisory Board until a permanent appointment is made.
• PHE has been working closely with the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) – a member of the evidence-focused What Works network – to understand what works to improve children and young people’s life chances and strengthen their resilience and capabilities as early as possible.

Duncan Selbie's Friday message: 12 April 2017

Short weekly update from the CEO of Public Health England (PHE), including:

• PHE is training staff for the 3 laboratories established in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic and will be handing over to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in September. PHE will maintain a presence in Freetown for at least another year in order to quality assure the handover process.
• Well North published its first progress report, supported by PHE. Well North is a community action programme focused on 10 communities in the north of England with persistent poor health outcomes. It brings together the statutory, voluntary and private sectors to strengthen the hand of local people in making decisions and finding new ways to help people achieve the things that really matter to them.
• The publication of Improving Lives: helping workless families by DWP, which sets out their proposals to improve outcomes for the 1.8 million children growing up in workless families and facing multiple disadvantages.
• The appointment of Professor Daniel Bausch as Director of the new UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, an HM Government-funded specialist team of health specialists run jointly by PHE and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who will be ready to deploy to tackle a health crisis anywhere in the world when needed.
• Congratulations to Dr Justin Varney, PHE’s National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing, who will be presented with the David Harvey Award for his contribution to addressing LGBT health issues for health professionals and patients by the Gay and Lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists (GLADD).

Duncan Selbie's Friday message: 7 April 2017

Short weekly update from the CEO of Public Health England (PHE), including:

• publication of baseline data and guidelines for industry to remove 20% of sugar by 2020 in foods most popular with children as part of PHE’s sugar reduction programme. The programme allows as much flexibility as possible for businesses, setting out the three approaches to sugar reduction: reformulation, making portions smaller or encouraging consumers to buy lower or no sugar products in their portfolio.
• Obesity is the subject of this month’s edition of Health Matters, and focuses on what can be done to improve the food environment so that the healthier choice becomes the default. Do share the infographics, slide set, case studies, video and blogs with colleagues.
• Next Steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View, sets out what has been achieved so far by NHS England, PHE and national and local partners and outlines the work plan for the next two years.
• encouraging that, for the first time, clear deadlines are being set for all parts of the health service to become tobacco free: in 2017/18 all mental health trusts will become smoke-free, expanding to all acute trusts the following year, leading to all NHS estates becoming smoke-free by 2019/20.
• Launch of a new website, Doing the Right Thing, a joint initiative between the Richmond Group, which comprises 14 of the leading health and social care charities, PHE and the mental health charity Mind.

Duncan Selbie's Friday message: 31 March 2017

Short weekly update from the CEO of Public Health England (PHE), including:

• following Wednesday’s Budget, PHE welcomes the levy on sugary drinks which will operate in practice from 2018
• Government’s commitment to the move of the ring-fenced public health grant to 100% business rate retention – PHE will fully engage with local government on this
• LGA published Maintaining our momentum: Essays on four years of public health, which relates a number of different perspectives, from national to local, of those working across the system since the transfer of public health to local government in 2013
• publication of new statistics on adult smoking habits in the UK – from 2010 to 2015, smoking became less common across all ages in the UK, with the largest decrease among 18 to 24 year olds
• publication of 2017 Child Health Profiles, which provide a snapshot of child health and wellbeing for each local authority in England in an easily accessible format
• inaugural PHE Quality Awards, celebrating quality, improvement, innovation and effectiveness.

Duncan Selbie's Friday message: 10 March 2017