Overview

Public Health aims to improve health and wellbeing for everyone in Stockport, and protect people from threats to their health.

Under the Director of Public Health, we work across the council and with our partners to integrate health and wellbeing into key priorities.

What we do

Health protection

Our health protection work involves:

  • helping protect people from the dangers of infectious diseases such as measles, and the health effects of environmental problems such as air pollution
  • managing disease outbreaks and promote high standards of infection prevention and control in places like our schools and care homes
  • working with residents and partners to promote the uptake of vaccines across all vaccination programmes such as MMR, COVID and influenza

Commissioning services

Commissioning is the process by which we plan, purchase and monitor our health and care services to make sure we meet the needs of individuals and communities.

We commission high quality public health services including:

  • sexual health services
  • the NHS health check
  • health visiting and school nursing
  • services to help people stop or cut down on using drugs and/or alcohol, stop smoking, manage weight and get more active. Our Stockport Triage and Referral Team, known as START, is the first point of contact for support

Data and intelligence

Our data and intelligence work involves:

  • providing data and intelligence which offers insights about the health of our population; we do this through our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and other analyses
  • providing specialist public health advice to other professionals and health organisations
  • developing evidence-based advice to improve health and reduce inequalities

Preventing ill health

We aim to prevent ill health, which includes areas such as:

  • mental health and wellbeing
  • heart health
  • frailty
  • self-care
  • physical activity

To do this by:

  • working with partners to deliver health improvements for our whole population and prevent ill health
  • increasing the number of people taking up the offer of NHS screening and the Healthier You diabetes prevention programme

Working with and for our communities

We work with and for our communities, using their skills and resources to improve health and wellbeing.

Workforce

We help to develop and promote healthy workplaces by supporting employers and employees with training and health promotion activities.

Raising awareness

We develop and deliver awareness campaigns and targeted communications around public health initiatives, information and advice.

Narrowing the health gaps in Stockport

Health inequalities in Stockport are significant. There's almost a 10 year difference in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas for people of all genders. People in deprived areas also spend more years in fair or poor health compared to those in other areas.

We want to narrow this gap by tackling the causes of poor health and targeting resources where they're most needed. Our goal is to create conditions that make it easier for everyone to live a healthy life.

Influencing and campaigning

Almost every aspect of our lives impacts our health. We use our experience and expertise to influence planning, regulation and other services which affect our health, such as housing and education.

We also support those arguing for public policy to address the harms caused by industries like tobacco.