Public Health North East

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Regional Director’s Update
There aren’t too many taboos left in the world these days, but one of them is a proper debate about how we want to die.

Although death comes to us all, we seem curiously reluctant to talk about the way we want to go.

Earlier this week we launched a consultation on a charter for A Good Death, one of the most high profile pieces of work to emerge from our Better Health Fairer Health regional strategy.

We need to accept that dying is a wider public health issue which is why it was included in the 25-year plan.

It’s difficult for many people to think about and discuss but it really is the only thing that’s inevitable - along with taxes, some cynics might suggest.

Avoiding the subject will not make it go away, so let’s have the debate and make it easier for people to talk about their views.

The charter encourages people to think and talk about death and dying so NHS North East and its partners can ensure the right services and support are available at the right time.

This ground-breaking consultation will run until the end of November with the findings expected to be published in late January 2010.

It has been funded by Dying Matters, a national coalition set up to support the implementation of a national end of life care strategy and change attitudes and behavior towards death, dying and bereavement.

Everyone should have the right toexperience a good death - and family members, partners or other carers deserve support and compassion at this time.

Professor Stephen Singleton
Regional Director of Public Health

Welcome to the monthly e-bulletin produced by Public Health North East. It is designed to keep you up to date on the latest developments in the region. Please send details about any public health-related events to simon.p.mills@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Change4Life at boot camp
Doktor von Funf a Day is encouraging children in the North East to eat more healthily and become more physically active.

He is the central character in a new interactive drama devised by youngsters at a County Durham school to promote the national Change4Life campaign.
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Protect more kids from cigs

People from across the North East are calling for new laws aimed at making smoking history for more children.

Parliament is due to vote next week on measures aimed at cutting the number of teenagers who start smoking each year.

Let’s talk about death
North Easterners are being asked to tackle a taboo and talk about death as part of the UK’s first ever charter on end of life care.

Partners across the health, social care and voluntary sectors as well as patients and carers in the region worked together to produce a draft charter for A Good Death.
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Choose well this winter
People in the North East are being encouraged to get the right treatment this winter as demand on services increases.

The Choose Well campaign asks those who fall ill or become injured to select the most appropriate NHS service.
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'Reduce salt' call backed
Public health experts in the North East are backing a national call to curb our intake of salt – sometimes known as the silent killer.

The Food Standards Agency launched the latest stage of its public awareness initiative this week.
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School meals pilot launched
A pilot social marketing scheme designed to increase the uptake of school meals and tackle childhood obesity was launched in the North East last week.

Three local authority school meals services in the region have joined forces for the first time to try out a range of initiatives.
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Rural health week a big hit
Attempts to help rural communities in County Durham stay healthy have been hailed a resounding success.

Rural Health Week focused on access to services for the vulnerable and hard to reach groups.
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Risk info ‘would cut drinking’
More information on the health risks associated with alcohol would reduce the amount North Easterners drink.

Those are the initial findings from the Big Drink Debate, one of the biggest public health consultations ever held in the area.
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Grow Your Own Five
Children in the North East are being encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables in pots to promote healthy eating.

Grow Your Own Five is being launched in schools across County Durham by the local NHS public health team.
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Let’s talk about sex
Young people on Tyneside were asked to take part in an online survey to shed light on their attitudes towards sexual health and sexually transmitted infections last month.

The survey – developed by the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Chlamydia Screening Programme – coincided with national sexual health week.
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People Like Us
Efforts to encourage even more smokers in the North East to give up continue this month with a campaign that celebrates 10 years of NHS success.

It includes radio and newspaper advertising, outdoor billboards and a mass mail drop to around 175,000 homes.
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RAG riches

This section provides an update on the work of the ten regional advisory groups set up to implement the North East’s Better Health Fairer Health strategy.

The Prevention, Fair and Early Treatment group is looking at making every healthcare encounter an opportunity to promote good health with the help of primary care trusts and as part of public health education.

H2O gang boost campaign

Life-size cartoon characters are encouraging thousands of children across the North East to sign up to a healthy challenge.

Northumbrian Water’s H2O gang - a group of superheroes - have joined the Change4Life initiative.

Living beyond cancer
A father with leukaemia has welcomed support for people who have finished treatment or are living with forms of blood cancers.

Former head teacher and father-of-four John Lea, 68, of Chester le Street, County Durham, was diagnosed with chronic leukaemia two years ago.
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