Director – Cathy Hamlyn
Programme Manager – Darèle Angwin

Public Health National Support Teams
The Public Health National Support Teams (NSTs) are a division of the Health Improvement &
Protection Directorate within the Department of Health. We work on behalf of and in partnership with Health Improvement Policy and Performance Delivery colleagues in the
Department of Health as well as with Regional colleagues in Government Offices and Strategic
Health Authorities across England. Our purpose is to provide support to the NHS & their local partners to achieve their local public health priorities.
We do this in three ways:

identifying and offering tailored intensive support to those health economies across
England who are facing the greatest challenge in achieving their local public health priorities;

identifying, developing & disseminating good practice, relevant evidence and guidance to support the regional tier & the less challenged local areas to improve delivery; and

feeding back information & intelligence to policy colleagues at the centre to enable evidence based policy making.
We currently have teams dedicated to each national public health priority on Health
Inequalities, Obesity, Tobacco Control, Teenage Pregnancy, Sexual Health and Alcohol Harm
Reduction.
A further team Infant Mortality is currently being set up to start work in the Autumn of 2008.
The teams were founded and are led by Cathy Hamlyn, a senior civil servant, as Director for
National Support Team Development, a post she took up in late 2005. Cathy has extensive former experience in the NHS over 24 years including 10 years as a NHS Chief Executive.
Cathy reports to David Harper, Director General for Health Improvement and Protection, who reports to the Chief Medical Officer.
Two Delivery Managers lead each National Support team. In the case of the Health
Inequalities, Infant Mortality and Sexual Health teams, there is one senior Manager. In all other cases, the two Delivery Managers on each team lead the team jointly. Associate Delivery
Managers support the Delivery Managers. All Delivery Managers are typically drawn from delivery organisations such as the NHS, Local Authorities or relevant third sector partners and are recognised in their field.

Public Health National Support Teams
There is also a programme management team led by Darele Angwin, a long-standing DH civil servant, and each NST team has its own dedicated project support staff.
Our key purpose is to work with the NHS, Local Government and other partners to support delivery of public health national and local goals and targets as part of the Department’s overall role to improve health and wellbeing. We do this by providing key local partners with the knowledge, confidence and practical measures to work together to improve health outcomes for their local populations.
This is in keeping with the Department’s overall purpose, role and values as set out in the
Planning Framework:
The role of the public health National Support Teams is to support PCTs, local authorities and local health partnerships in relation to the following public health priorities: Sexual Health;
Teenage Pregnancy; Tobacco Control; Health Inequalities; Childhood Obesity; Alcohol Harm
Reduction and Infant Mortality.
Working with local areas
Key to the way we work is the understanding by local areas that we are here to help them in a supportive manner to achieve their own local priorities. We are not a ‘hit squad’ and we are not performance managers. For this reason, our reports are confidential to the individual local area. Individual reports will not be copied or submitted to Ministers, national policy teams or the regions. If we identify any best practice then we only disseminate it with the relevant local area’s permission. Local areas are given the opportunity to take up follow-up support from the team but if they do not want it, they are not obliged to take it.
Working with the regions
The NSTs support the Government Offices and SHAs in their performance improvement role by providing enhanced resources and specialist expertise to enable intensive support to be given to prioritised areas. Though we do not share reports with colleagues at regional level, we are careful to ensure that RDsPHs & SHA Chief Executives & Directors of Performance have a say in whether we visit an area and are kept informed on the overall outcome of visits. At the outset of the programme Cathy Hamlyn engaged with the Regional Directors of Public Health
& SHA colleagues to help determine the scope and shape of the NSTs & to agree visit locations. In addition, colleagues at regional level are consulted prior to each and every individual visit by each team. Cathy Hamlyn continues to engage 1:1 with RDsPH every year to help determine the NST programme in each region.
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Public Health National Support Teams
Feedback suggests that all the NSTs are very well regarded, particularly because of the level of expertise they are able to offer and because of the genuinely supportive role that they have taken. Their services are much in demand. Given the number of visits undertaken, the NSTs are also in a very good position to feedback to policy teams issues that need to be addressed at national level and to feedback learning to organisations at national, regional and local level.
Outcome evaluation undertaken with respect to the work of the Sexual health NST has indicated that greater progress towards the target has been made by those authorities the NST has visited and supported , than others who have not had a visit from the NST. A further independent evaluation of the National Support Teams is currently under way.
Alcohol Harm Reduction NST - The team offers support to local partnerships in achieving the
Governments key target to achieve a minimum of 1% reduction in the rate of hospital admissions per 100,000 population for alcohol related harm. A partnership approach at a national, regional and local level is key to the successful delivery of this target.
The Alcohol Harm Reduction NST will help Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Local Authorities,
Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs), and other partners to identify opportunities in relation to improving delivery against target. This support takes the form of a site visit, over a three and a half day period, by experienced practitioners.
A systematic process of enquiry, using a framework of key questions to assess local barriers to, and opportunities for, making progress towards the Alcohol Public Service Agreement Target is used. With the process being informed by Safe. Sensible. Social.; Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers; Review of the Effectiveness of
Alcohol Problems and relevant NICE guidance as well as other key documents. A report of the findings is provided to the area with suggestions and offers with respect to further facilitation and follow up support.
The team will focus on adults and those areas with the highest hospital admission rates due to alcohol use.
Diagnostic visit commenced in September 2008:

Blackpool 16 th September 08

Sandwell 7 th October 08

Blackburn with Darwin 28 th October 08
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Public Health National Support Teams

Lincolnshire 18 th November 08

Leicester City 9 th December 80

North Tyneside 13 th January 09

Stoke on Trent 4 th February 09

Newcastle and Northumberland 24 th February 09

Knowsley 17 th March 09
The Alcohol Harm Reduction Team is currently negotiating visits for 2009/10
The team currently consists of:
Diane Powell Deliver Manager Diane.powell@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Matt Hennessey Delivery Manager Matt.hennessey@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Sean Meehan Associate Delivery Manager Sean.meehan@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Katrina Stephens Associate Delivery Manager Katrina.stephens@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Matt Phelan Project Officer Matt.phelan@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Edwin Pereira Project Officer Edwin.pereira@doh.gsi.gov.uk
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