July 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of social marketing. However, while the previous Labour administration dedicated sustained resources and support to developing the field of social marketing, this was followed by a time of uncertainty during the Coalition Government’s ascent to power. This paper explores the potential future position of social marketing within David Cameron’s evolving public health landscape, outlining areas of synergy between social marketing’s key features, and the coalition’s emergent public health architecture. The paper concludes with an exploration of the development opportunities nascent within social marketing, suggesting that support for the new commissioners (GP and local authority), and an enhanced emphasis on evaluation of financial and social outcomes, will be required if the evidence base for strong practice is to continue to grow and evolve.
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‘It’s Our Health’, July 2006, was an independent report commissioned jointly by the National Consumer Council (NCC) and the Department of Health (DH) as one of the commitments set out in the public health White Paper Choosing Health. http://www.teespublichealth.nhs.uk/document.aspx?id=4130&siteID=1012
Established by Government in 2006, The National Social Marketing Centre is a centre of excellence for social marketing and behaviour change in the UK. http://thensmc.com/about-us.html
Finnamore is the UK’s largest independent health consultancy, and won the Health Investor’s Award for ‘Best Consultancy 2010’. Finnamore manages 15 national Healthy Places, Healthy Lives sites, as well as overseeing the Core Cities Health Improvement Collaborative, to build public health best practice between England’s 8 largest cities. http://www.finnamore.co.uk/
BRE estimates. Liverpool’s 5,500 rented properties contain in the region of 7,500 category 1 hazards (2006 stock condition survey); Liverpool has the worst overall rate of fuel poverty in the country at 7.5% - some wards approach 50% (CSE 2003); For each winter death, there are 8 emergency admissions (DoH); 27% of households in Liverpool lack central heating (2006 stock condition survey). www.liverpool.gov.uk/healthyhomes.
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is a risk based evaluation tool to help local authorities identify and protect against potential risks and hazards to health and safety from any deficiencies identified in dwellings. It was introduced under the Housing Act 2004 and came into effect on 6 April 2006. It applies to residential properties in England. http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/hhsrsoperatingguidance
The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is a voluntary annual reward and incentive programme for all GP surgeries in England, detailing practice achievement results. It is not about performance management but resourcing and then rewarding good practice. http://www.qof.ic.nhs.uk/.
Proposed Public Health changes will “be supported by a proposed public health outcomes framework and a ‘health premium’, which will incentivise local government and communities to improve health and reduce inequalities, while leaving them free to decide how best to do this, in line with local needs. Data will be published to make it easier for local communities to compare themselves with others across the country and to incentivise improvements”, http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_122347.pdf, p.26.
