Newsletter Winter 2008 Issue 2

Next PHAST

Associates Meeting

Tuesday 9th December 2008

3pm – 5pm

Imperial College

South Kensington Campus

Attendance certificates for CPD files

available at the meeting

Mince Pies and a festive glass!

Contact Us

Email: enquires@phast.org.uk

Website: www.phast.org.uk

Simone Ranson

PHAST Business & Programme Manager

simone.ranson@imperial.ac.uk

Marion Deacon

PHAST Training Programme Manager

marion.deacon@imperial.ac.uk

Neel Vyas

PHAST Associates co-ordinator & Project Officer

neel.vyas@imperial.ac.uk

Dear PHAST Associates

Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to you and your

families and friends.

Welcome to our second newsletter.

We are having an exciting and

successful year, by contributing to national policy and improving the health of many people

including disadvantaged people such as the homeless and

those in prison.

For those of you who have just joined us, I would like to

explain that the Public Health Action Support Team is a social

enterprise. Social enterprises are organisations driven by a social mission with surplus used to benefit the community and

not given as dividends to directors.

We aim to provide evidence-based value to organisations

involved in improving health and commissioning health and

social care. There are about 60 experienced Public Health

professionals who respond rapidly to requests for public health

projects and deliver high quality results.

PHAST works in partnership with Government Departments,

National Agencies, Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts, Acute Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, Practice Based

Commissioning Groups, Local Authorities and Higher Education

Institutions.

We have delivered over 50 projects and are currently working

on over 30 projects. We have worked in a number of countries

such as Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

PHAST has turned over about £1 million in the first year and we have obtained a large contract worth several million.

Remember, we have lots of work and opportunities for new

associates so please contact our management team when you are available to undertake project work.

Best wishes

Dr Catherine Brogan

Chief Executive

“If you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas”

George Bernard Shaw, UK Playwright

Reducing Inequalities in a

Teaching Primary Care Trust After many changes in the leadership in the PCT’s public

health department, a new director was appointed in April

2008. With several vacancies in the department but high

local expectation of a framework for reducing health

inequalities, PHAST worked with the new Director of Public

Health (DPH) over this spring and summer to provide

consultant level advice and support while a new public health consultant and two senior public health

practitioners were appointed. PHAST’s brief was to

identify the causes of the high rates of mortality in certain groups compared to what would be expected of that

population, review the evidence base for intervening to

reduce health inequalities and produce an assessment of

the relevance of a wide range of initiatives previously approved in the PCT as to whether they

are contributing or might contribute to an improved health

status for the population. The work is based on both existing and very recently published local, regional and

national data. The research component is to demonstrate what interventions are likely to be successful and to what

extent the PCT’s current investment is likely to produce

the desired outcomes in reducing healthy inequalities.

The PCT’s DPH is a joint PCT/borough council

appointment. PHAST’s support to the DPH has meant that

the PCT’s public health function can provide an immediate input to, and impact on, the PCT commissioning strategy

and the joint arrangements with the local authority prior

to the public health department having that capacity itself. Also, now that the public health specialists are

appointed, there is already in place a well researched, peer reviewed and practical assessment of what is

happening and how the PCT might focus its resources in

future in order to reduce health inequalities.

St Mungo’s Health Strategy St Mungo’s is a registered charity and is currently the

largest hostel provider in London. In addition to housing, St Mungo’s provides advice and support to its residents to

enable them to achieve long term accommodation, skills

training and assistance with finding a job. PHAST was asked to create a new health strategy for the charity from

the previous four separate health strategies for physical

health, mental health, drugs and alcohol and blend them

into a single health strategy for discussion with primary

care trusts and other commissioners.

http://www.mungos.org/documents/770

PHAST researched the range of literature about access to

healthcare for homeless people and how St Mungo’s could

focus its organisation to impact positively on residents’ health. In this project, PHAST conducted interviews and

focus groups with hostel residents, staff, GPs and PCTs. The project was unusual as the final report was

very much a joint outcome between PHAST and St.

Mungo’s, with active engagement of the management and

staff of the charity with a specific focus on practical

proposals and ideas for improved commissioning for this very marginalised client group.

PHAST associates who undertook the project attended the

launch of the ‘Health Strategy for Homeless People’ on 8th

September, with a keynote speech by Aidan Halligan, former NHS Director of Clinical Governance. The launch

was attended by PCT’s, journalists, other charities and

local authorities.

Peter Gluckman PHAST Operational Director

Project Focus

PHAST Associates

Have you completed your due diligence procedures?

For further advice

Please contact Neel Vyas

neel.vyas@imperial.ac.uk

WWW.HEALTHKNOWLEDGE.ORG.UK

WWW.WIKIPH.ORG

***Congratulations*** ***PHAST Associate Rachel Wells***

Reuben James Robert Smith, born Saturday 25th October 2008 at 12.46pm, weighing 6lbs 7.5ozs. Mother and baby are doing well.

Working with Right to Sight in India & Africa

David Murray (Consultant in Public Health & PHAST

Operational Director) is working with Right to Sight (RTS),

an international charity working to support achievement of the WHO/IAPB Vision 2020 Objectives in Africa. RTS

currently has offices in Dublin, London, and Chennai, and

has plans to open an office in Africa.

Right to Sight’s goals and activities are driven by the aim

of increasing sustainable eye care capacity in Africa.

Key aspects of this sustainability strategy include equitable cost recovery and access, and the training and

development of African eye care professionals; to reduce

dependency on external financing and staffing.

RTS works in partnership with the WHO Collaborating Centre at Aravind Eye Hospital/LAICO Institute in Madurai,

India. The Institute provides training and consultancy

services to RTS and its project leaders in Africa. RTS

currently has 18 projects underway or planned in 8 African

countries, including Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, Ivory

Coast and Kenya to name a few. David’s work with RTS to date includes: • Participating in workshops with RTS project partners from Africa and India;

• Developing a model, strategic plan, & reporting data-set

for monitoring & evaluation; • Providing monitoring & evaluation training & support for

RTS staff;

• Monitoring & evaluation liaison with government donors;

• Writing a successful bid to the Irish government for

250,000 Euros to support a RTS project in South Africa.

In the coming months, David will be visiting RTS projects

in Africa to support the implementation of monitoring and

evaluation activities.

Further details on the work of RTS can be found at

www.righttosight.com

David Murray PHAST Operational Director

PHAST Associate’s Away day

The associates’ away day took place on Tuesday 9th of

September, and was a chance for associates to get to

know each other, and understand PHAST a little better. It

was also an opportunity to voice suggestions for the future of PHAST, and highlight areas for improvement.

The day was a mix of presentations, and group work, with

a balance of serious and light hearted discussions and was

expertly facilitated by Gilly Wiscarson who made sure

everyone was on track, and keeping to time. She did an

excellent job, and the day progressed faultlessly. The workshops were run by a mix of operational directors

and associates, and all focused on a particular area of

PHAST, evaluating the current situation, and suggested areas for improvement, as well as ways of maintaining the

already high standards set. Presentations included a talk from Catherine Brogan, who introduced the day with Sue

Atkinson, as well as giving an overview of projects PHAST

has recently delivered, those that are still on-going and

those being prepared for the future. Catherine also

touched on the services PHAST currently offers to its

associates in the way of support and management.

Workshops then followed on specific aspects of PHAST

which identified improvements, and highlighted existing strengths. It was good to hear the input of those who

may not be so closely linked to the PHAST team, and as a

result can act as a more impartial judge of PHAST’s

operations.

The afternoon saw more group work, and the chance for different groups to present their findings to the rest of the

attendees. The final part of the day gave associates an

opportunity to discuss any area of improvement that had

not already been covered, or to expand on solutions to

problems that had been previously mentioned. All the

findings and conclusions from the day are in the process

of being collated, and once completed will be circulated to all associates to inform them of the actions planned to

address them. The day was useful and rewarding, and will hopefully

become a regular event. Thanks go to everyone for their

contributions.

PHAST Summer Barbeque

The PHAST BBQ took place on 7th of September. Soggy is

the word to describe the weather for the first part of the

day, although that failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the

many people that attended.

The weather caused most people to retreat inside after

briefly scurrying out for a bite or two, though they were

still enjoying themselves even if the temperature was a few degrees lower than hoped.

Those who remained outside used the barbeque more as a source of warmth than a culinary tool, and were

constantly plagued by rogue drips from the gazebo

awnings ready to dive down their necks. However, the food was delicious, with plentiful supplies of

healthy salad and fruit! As a result conversations flowed,

people forgot about the weather, and a good time was

had by all.

By mid afternoon, with everyone replete from the feast,

the weather even cleared up slightly, and people soon

cautiously came out to mingle in the garden which was now at least free from rain, if still a little chilly.

Harry Soljak

.................................................................................

PHAST Events

If you would like to contribute to the next PHAST Newsletter or have any news you wish to

circulate amongst PHAST Associates please contact us on 020 7594 3356

email neel.vyas@imperial.ac.uk

Operational Directorate

Professor Sue Atkinson Chair

Dr Catherine Brogan Chief Executive

Mr Mike Deacon Company Secretary

Dr Steve Hajioff Operational Director

Mrs Katie Enock Operational Director

Mr David Murray Operational Director

Mr Peter Gluckman Operational Director

Professor Azeem Majeed Non-Executive Director

Mr Jan Bergman Non-Executive Director

Ms Natalie Hutson Business Manager

Information for Health

PHAST

Associates

Management Team

Ms Simone Ranson Programme Manager

Mrs Marion Deacon Training Programme

Manager

Mr Neel Vyas Associates co-ordinator

& Project Officer

Mr Ricky Banarsee Treasurer