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Population Health and Wellness
Ministry of Health
December 2005
Trevor Hancock: conceptual and evidentiary framework
Tom Gregory: Executive Director overseeing the project
Lorna Storbakken: project management for implementation
Russell Fairburn: data, information systems, performance agreement
Why core functions in public health?
- Ministry priority
- Need for public health to be strengthened at HA and provincial levels
- Identification of public health services to be provided
- Recent Canadian reports such as “Learning from SARS”, the Naylor report on “Public Health” and “The Future of Public Health in Canada (CIHR report) noted the need for public health to be better structured and organized in order to prevent disease, disability and injury and to improve the health of the population.
- An effective public health system needs clearly defined essential functions and services.
- These are the long-term core programs, representing the minimum level of public health services that health authorities would provide in a renewed and modern public health service and the public health strategies that can be used to implement the core programs. It also includes system capacity requirements, such as health information systems and training.
- Other jurisdictions including Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Australia have embarked on definition of core programs for their public health services.
MoH Actions Related to Core Functions
- Stewardship role
- New Public Health Act
- Priority Performance Improvement Project within Performance Agreements
- Ministry Service Plan deliverable
Consistent with stewardship role in providing direction and support to the health authorities, for monitoring and evaluating the system, and supporting that new investment is used effectively.
The new Public Health Act, which is currently being drafted is expected to define the legal parameters and authorities of Medical Health Officers and other public health staff, define the legal requirements that may be placed on others in order to prevent disease and protect health, and define the set of essential public health activities to prevent disease, disability and injury and improve population health.
As referenced in the Performance Agreements, the Ministry and health authorities have made a commitment to work together on the development and implementation of the Framework for Core Functions in Public Health. I will come back to this later in the presentation.
Ministry Service Plan references the need to “strengthen core public health services.”