Public health has had an increasingly high profile in recent years and tackling health inequalities is a key objective of local health organisations and local authorities. Life expectancy has increased, but there are significant health inequalities between men and women, socio–ethnic groups and geographic areas. The financial and health complications associated with public health are complex, costly and increasing. Obesity and smoking contribute to high levels of coronary heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure and treating these diseases places pressure on scarce NHS resources.
In 2010 the Commission published Healthy balance: A review of public health performance and spending. This briefing estimated that £21 billion of NHS funds had been allocated in 2009/10 on the basis of health inequalities. Despite the health of the nation improving overall, health inequalities had proved a stubborn area to address. The briefing also highlights some of the variation in success among different localities and states that it is hard to see an obvious link between spending on tackling health inequalities and improvement, or get any clear view of value for money.
Are we choosing health? was produced jointly with the Healthcare Commission in 2008 and reviewed how well the NHS and local government were tackling the issues of health improvement and health inequalities at a local and national level. It focused on the impact of several policies all of which are intended to improve problems such as smoking cessation, obesity, alcohol misuse, sexual and mental health, and well-being among young children and older people.
Three of the Commission's public health reports focus on children. The Commission worked the National Audit Office and the Healthcare Commission to produce Tackling childhood obesity – first steps in 2006. Better safe than sorry, published in 2007, focused on preventing unintentional injury, a leading cause of death and illness among children and the main cause of hospital admission. Published in 2010, Giving children a healthy start assessed the local implementation of national policy from 1999 to 2009 on the health of children from birth to five years of age in England. The report discussed the impact of government funding on health outcomes for the under-fives; how effectively local bodies managed their resources; and the extent to which they are providing good value for money. It provides recommendations for national and local bodies, as well as examples of notable practice.
The Commission no longer undertakes studies in this area.