1 What you can expect from local Public Health
Public health is a priority for West Sussex County Council (WSCC). Our Director of Public Health and their team aim to improve people's well-being and protect their health. Public Health also seek to reduce inequalities in our local population.
Working with other teams and organisations, we:
Assess
We assess the latest evidence and information. This helps us to develop and carry out public health initiatives, campaigns, and services. They are based on what the population needs and what works.
Commission
We commission mandatory services. This includes the Healthy Child Programme (HCP), NHS Health Checks, and sexual health services. We also commission services that support people to make positive changes to their health and wellbeing. For example:
- stop smoking services
- support for mental health and wellbeing
- specialist alcohol and drug misuse services.
Protect
We work closely with other organisations, such as the UK Health Security Agency, to protect West Sussex residents. Our work includes:
- surveillance and monitoring of infectious diseases
- quality assurance for population screening
- immunisation programmes
- cancer screening
- responding to and planning for emergencies that present a risk to the public’s health.
Please see the contact us section for information about how the UK Health Security Agency also protects people.
Who we work with
Our Public Health team works with other teams in WSCC. They help us support residents and communities to improve their health and wellbeing. Together we work to achieve the priorities in our Council Plan.
We also work with many partners, agencies, and organisations in the local health and care system including:
- East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council Public Health teams
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)
- Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
- District and borough councils
- Healthwatch West Sussex
- Sussex Resilience Forum (SRF)
- Early years and education settings
- NHS Sussex
- NHS providers (such as hospitals)
- NHS England (NHSE)
- National Health Service (NHS)
- Sussex Police
- Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector (such as a charity or community interest companies).
2 Improve your health and wellbeing
Our West Sussex Wellbeing website has information and advice to support your health and wellbeing.
You can find more detailed information about wellbeing services in your area by selecting the location you are interested in on the Your local wellbeing hub page.
Visit West Sussex Wellbeing (external link)It includes advice from our wellbeing advisors about:
3 Supporting your health and wellbeing
Our Public Health team, on behalf of the West Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board, is responsible for:
- the West Sussex Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), the evidence that supports public health decision-making by West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and its partners
- leading the development of the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy
- undertaking the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment.
We also publish other health policies, plans and strategies on our website. The Director of Public Health also has a statutory duty to write an independent annual report on the health of the local population on a topic of their choice.
4 Contact details
Health protection advice
We work closely with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) who provide specialist public health advice and operational support to the NHS, local authorities and agencies. They help to prevent and reduce the impact of:
- infectious diseases
- chemical and radiation hazards
- major emergencies.
If you would like to report or find support on these areas, please contact your local health protection team in England.
Environmental health services
We work closely with district and borough councils across West Sussex who are responsible for environmental health services, including:
- food safety
- noise, nuisance and pollution
- pest control
- licensing
- air quality (pollution)
- litter and fly tipping
- rubbish and recycling
- housing conditions (if you have an issue regarding your rented housing).
If you would like to report or find help on these areas, contact your local district or borough council. Look for or ask for, environmental health and the specific service you need.
5 Information for professionals
In addition to the information in our ‘Strategies, plans and reports’ section, we provide a range of resources for professionals. These resources support them in their health and wellbeing work. This includes:
- our Health Promotion Resource service
- training for professionals including for ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MECC)
- our Healthy places framework.
Further information is available in our ‘Public health information for professionals’ section.