Health, Physical Activity & Sport

Health Promotion & PCTs

Health Promotion

There are many models and definitions of health promotion. The underlying ethos of health promoters' work is based on the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. There are five key action strategies of the Ottawa Charter:

  • build healthy public policy
  • create supportive environments
  • strengthen community action
  • develop personal skills
  • re-orient health services

Health promotion has been defined as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health" (World Health Organisation).

Health promoters are not just responsible for interventions or project work. They bring special skills to the wider public health agenda at all levels.

The role of PCTs

One of the roles of primary care trusts is to deliver:

  • effective health improvement
  • effective health protection
  • steps to reduce health inequalities

To do this involves effective planning of strategies that take account of national and local priorities in:

  • the improvement of health inequalities
  • providing health protection
  • producing effectively resourced action plans

Health improvement and the reduction of health inequalities include ill-health prevention, health promotion and awareness initiatives. It also requires tackling the wider determinants of health such as housing, sport, neighbourhood renewal and environmental issues. These approaches are all the more effective when done in partnership.

In order to meet the priority areas as identified in the Planning and Priorities Framework, Our Healthier Nation and the national inequalities targets, the PCTs and partners are focusing their key interventions on improving life expectancy and reducing infant mortality.

Other key interventions include:

  • identifying the local health inequalities
  • improving data quality and collection
  • developing local leadership and partnership working including "local strategic partnership" development
  • supporting Sure Start and local neighbourhood renewal

Primary Care Trusts

Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are now the cornerstone of the NHS and provide the vital links between the strategic health authority and GP practices and between the demand and supply of acute hospital services. Overall, they are responsible for the health of the people in their area, tackling health inequalities and bringing health and social care more closely together.

The role of a primary care trust is to:

  • support and develop the services of GPs and their practice teams;
  • provide a range of community health services, such as health visiting and district nursing; and
  • commission hospital treatment and specialist care for patients.

In Kent there are three PCTs. Please follow the links below for more information.

- Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust http://www.eastcoastkentpct.nhs.uk/

- Medway Primary Care Trust      http://www.medwaypct.nhs.uk/

- West Kent Primary Care Trust   http://www.westkentpct.nhs.uk/