BL9412 Public Health

Introduction

A company report is a document that serves to update the stakeholders on the company progress, accomplishment, and projections. More so, the report depicts the king of leadership that an organization has (Betker, 2022).  Therefore, a report is required to cover all the aspects that are of interest to all the stakeholders. The aspects of a good report that has detailed all the areas that concern the stakeholders include; the vision, mission and objective statement; evaluation, sharing information and evidence; teamwork and team engagement; relationship with the political power; and leadership with care (McPherson et al., 2016). A report that covers the aspects highlighted above shows that the organization leadership has a clear intention and has sourced all the available resources to support the achievement of their goal.

Public health leadership relies on the capability of an individual to motivate and influence the stakeholders in a way to contributes to the effectiveness and success of an organization. As such, the leader is required to provide a vision and mission as well as the means of achieving them. A public health leader is always keen on developing the capabilities of the workforce through coaching and mentorship to help in nurturing their profession. At the same time, the leaders also document their leadership decisions and publish them on the annual report.

This paper will analyze the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health 2014/15 of London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The analysis will seek to identify the various aspects of a good report and whether they have been articulated in a manner to meet the stakeholder's expectations. The paper will also provide suggestions on the area of the report that seems to be inadequately addressed. However, the analysis will be more inclined towards health leadership rather than the general leadership of any other organization.

Analysis Of The Leadership Aspect

Vision

The Director of Public Health annual report has not included a vision statement. Instead, the document contains a statement that stipulates the aim of the report, which is to be “a resource to support local partners to better understand Richmond borough’s position in the National Outcomes Frameworks”.  The lack of vision on the report can be blamed on Dr Dagmar Zeunar, as it is part of his work to align the workforce through a vision statement. A vision statement of a company is meant to inspire the workforce through sharing an idealistic emotional future (Koh, 2009).

The statement explains the basic emotion that the leadership hopes to share with the people that interact with the organization. The statement helps to ground the stakeholders and helps the company actualize the intended impact on the world. As such, the vision statement helps the company to set long-term goals and motivate the audience to work towards achieving the goal (Stansfield, South and Mapplethorpe, 2020). In the NHS model of leadership, the inspiration of shared purpose includes patient care, promptness to improve the services, and valuing services ethos.

A public health leader ought to have a vision statement as it helps to provide the organization with a bigger picture of what should be achieved. The vision statement simplifies the work of the leader since it orients all the employees towards a specific goal. As such, a leader can make changes and improvements. Such a statement also helps to filter decisions and implement only those that align with the vision of the company, thus saving time. The outside world is also able to understand the aim of the organization to the community by reading the vision statement  (NCCDH, 2022).

Since the organization has not provided any vision statement on the report, a recommended Vision would be “better care, better life”. Such a mission statement is short and memorable and comprises a lot of information. First, better care ensures all the stakeholders can understand that the organization cares about their interests regardless of the position. For instance, employees and suppliers are reassured that their interests are considered as well as those of investors. Second better life marks as the end goal of the organization. After taking good care of the stakeholders, the organization goes the extra mile to ensure a better life. Therefore, the statement meets the needs of the organization and its stakeholders.

Evaluating and sharing information and evidence

The report mentions that health outcomes are highly regarded by local government and health facilities. As a result, different models have been made available both at the local and national levels to help measure and define outcomes. The report, therefore, has focused on demonstrating the use of one of the sets of tools that helps in measuring and assessing health and wellbeing outcomes of the people of Richmond borough (page 8).

The report has provided evidence of various outcomes including that of green space, screen, and health checks; a healthy start; vulnerable children and young people; use of drugs and alcohol; cares experience and quality of life (Page21,30, 35, 37, 42, and 51). The report has gone ahead to elaborate on the evidence by sharing information in detail by putting scores on the various aspects of measurements.

After providing the information and the evidence the report goes ahead to evaluate and elaborate the outcomes. The evaluation process also compares the outcomes to existing data in the local government and other sources  (Moodie, 2016). The need for the comparison and evaluation of the information is to help in ensuring that public health communicates in a manner that is appropriate and can be interpreted. Also, the process helps to eliminate ambiguity and redundancy. Nevertheless, the stakeholders rely on credible and refined information to make improvements and changes in the health sector, in line with the NHS model. From the report on page 8, a brief introduction has relayed adequate information regarding the purpose of the report. More information has also been provided in the methodology section on the type of engagement required to develop the public health report. On page 10, Richmond Brough provides information on the different levels of performance, which a distinguished using colors.

On page 15, the report provides information on the employment indicator, housing, built environment and green space. Information regarding safety and crime is provided on page 17 and an explanation of why the crime rates have increased. Information on the health profile is on page 24 of the report and it details diabetes, cancer, and HIV. The information on the rate of substance abuse and smoking habits is available on pages 27-28. Page 29 and 30 has provided information regarding the number of people who have received screening of diabetic retinopathy as well as cervical screening. The information on the section and young people and percentage of people having school readiness is contained on pages 35 to 38.

The vision statement helps a leader to guide the workforce towards undertaking the core duties of an organization. As such when reporting, the organization provides information on the core operations only. The company focuses on the sole intention, which is to measure health outcomes. The articulation of the report not only minimizes wastage of resources but also helps to provide an impression of a focused organization. For such a vision to be achieved, the leadership must also be willing to consider the concerns of other stakeholders who aid in achieving the goals (Hunter, 2009). Otherwise, the stakeholders might be demotivated to accomplish the organization takes. As such, the vision provided by the leadership must look at the interest of all the stakeholders.

The report on resources to support local partners to better understand Richmond borough’s position in the National Outcomes Framework has covered a lot in depth. The report has managed to deliver the intended information clearly and concisely. Also, the evaluation and presentation of evidence has been done thoroughly and presented in a manner that a reader can understand. However, the report lacks the overall information that dictates where the organization is headed, what its goals are, and how it motivates the workforce. As such, the report would have been much more informative if it had included a vision and mission statement. The inclusion of such information would also have shown the level of commitment from the leadership since a sense of direction would have been established.  

Engaging the Team/Team working

The report has acknowledged that the team involvement made it possible for the compilation of the report. The presence of teamwork and engagement can be accessed on page 9. On this page, the report states “In developing this report, the Public Health team has engaged with colleagues across the local authority, Achieving for Children and the Richmond Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who understand the details of how the indicators have been constructed and how to interpret Richmond borough’s performance.” Teamwork is very crucial in simplifying work as it helps to pool knowledge and resources as well as share expertise. The type of team engagement depicted on this page span from colleague to colleague engagement to organizational engagement (Folta, Seguin, Ackerman and Nelson, 2012). More teamwork and partnership has been seen on page 22, where the local community safety partnership (CSP) is sustained through the partnership of the police, fire brigade, community groups, probation, housing, youth services, safeguarding substance use and public health.

A good leader ought to be also a good team player, especially in the health sector. In the health sector, the main goal is to ensure that the population is provided with the health care requirements to the best level possible. According to the NHS model of leadership, leaders promote teamwork and demonstrate that their contribution and ideas are valid and essential for achieving desired outcomes and the continuous improvement of the service(Tun, Wellbery, and Teherani, 2020). As such, the leadership role in such a sector is bestowed to those who are seen to have a wide range of expertise regarding many areas of health care (Day et al., 2014). As such, the knowledge of a leader is highly required by those at the bottom to ensure the organization's goal is realized.

However, if the leader happens to have a lot of knowledge but fails to be a team player, the knowledge cannot be passed on to the workforce, which halts the progress of the organization. Also, a leader who fails to be a team player may face insubordination and harshness when they try to implement organizational policies. The insubordination and harshness are due to the view that the leader is not aware of what the workforce is going through. As such leadership skills are needed to make sure that all the team members and other stakeholders are headed in the same direction and working towards the same goal. The report hints at the acknowledgement of team efforts for heading in the right direction, without the disclosure of the details of contribution. On page 4, the director has thanked three of the local councillors and the chairperson but has not mentioned how they contributed to the project.

The report has shown the best way in which a team should operate. Teamwork and team coordination require that each member of the team get to play a role so that his or her input is valued. As such, the leader might not always try to handle everything by themselves but rather delegate the duties. The claim is seen when the reports that the public health team has engaged with colleagues across the local authority. However, there is room for improvement. Rather than just engaging, the colleagues in the local authority more teams need to be deployed in completing most of the tasks in the organization. For instance, the development of indicators that measure the outcome and the collection of data needed to be have been done by a team.

Assigning a team some tasks will portray the qualities of leadership and will help to mentor new leaders who will ensure the organization will be running in future. For instance, the report states “We commend this annual report of our Director of Public health. This report helps local partners to understand the health and wellbeing of Richmond Borough residents. The topics covered in this report are wide-ranging and cut across the responsibilities of many different sectors-public, private, voluntary and community. This means that no single department or organization can achieve better outcomes on their own-the only way is by working in partnership for Richmond borough people"(London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 2015). The extract shows an appreciation of teamwork efforts, which helps to motivate the stakeholders.

Working with/engaging politicians/getting them to support work on public health

A politician plays a significant role in the health care system. They help to lobby for resources and vocalize the concerns of the healthcare sector. In the report, the role of a politician has been portrayed on pages 16 and 20. On page 16, the role of the politician is to ensure that the government has employed enough healthcare givers in hospitals. “Employment is a key aspect of the Government’s Public Health strategy ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’." The second role of a politician is to make policies such as on page 20, "Government policy is that all social housing meets the Decent Homes Standard, which includes an indicator on the energy efficiency of properties.” Without the support of a politician, healthcare would have inadequate policies and the government would not prioritize health care agendas. The report also states that London Borough Public Health has worked with Councilor Blakemore and Councilor Marlow, for the housing and public health strategic cabinet members for adult services and health while putting up health promotion programs.

On the report, on page 5, the director has specifically thanked Dr Graham Lewis, who was the chair of the Richmond Clinical Commission for their support and contribution. Lobbying and advocacy take place at all levels of government. They are part of whatever influences the overall formulation of a policy. As such, it is a necessity that health care leaders should show the courage to take a stand on what they intend to accomplish.

A good leader is good at running the organization and delivering information to the healthcare givers. However, when it comes to the national level an organizational leader will have obstacles passing on the message (Catford, 1997). The reason is that the citizens tend to listen obey familiar people such as politicians. As such, a good leader needs to ensure they engage with politicians as they help to pass on the message and get the government to listen (Yphantides, Escoboza and Macchione, 2015). For instance, health care leaders were able to discover the pandemic and explain the measure to be taken. However, it was not until the politician got on board and told the citizens to follow the same regulations, that the restrictions were effected.

Having a politician by the side is a great move that would help to smoothen the running of the organization and the sector. However, apart from having a politician push the government to implement health care policies and make policies regarding the sector, a good leader needs a politician as a personal friend. Even better, a politician who knows the sector would be a great deal as the articulation of issues would be much easier.

Leading with care - staff/team/partners

The report has depicted leadership with care as seen on page 4, “Together the frameworks provide an overview of the health and wellbeing of local populations and support partnership working, as single services or sectors cannot achieve the outcomes on their own”. Also on page 5, it reports “…report helps local partners to understand the health and wellbeing of Richmond borough residents.”

Caring about the stakeholders affects the engagement of the stakeholders. Caring develops trust, and trust helps in the creation of loyalty. When there is a good relationship among the leaders, they are motivated more, perform better and are more likely to go an extra mile for supporting the team. In the annual report, the director has thanked and acknowledged the contributions of the team members, without whom, it would have been difficult to accomplish the target of better public health.

A good leader should take care of the team through appreciation and effort recognition. A team that is occasionally thanked and their efforts recognized, stay motivated, and handle tasks with diligence. In the public health field, the workforce usually works under stressful conditions (Ndalamba, Caldwell, and Anderson, 2018)). As such, genuine recognition from the leader goes a long way to boost their morale. Such an appreciation has been seen towards the volunteers, as the report states, “Once again, the support from our dedicated volunteers has been critical to our success this year. From contributions of expertise and experience in our Task Groups to supporting the delivery of the staff team, we are very grateful to reach our volunteers for their commitment to any activity.”

Leading with care based on the report could be taken a step further by ensuring that the staff is recognized with tokens of appreciation when one hits a milestone (Elis, and Abbott, 2014). Also, leadership should consider having therapy sessions to help the stressful conditions.

Length, the structure of the report

The structure of the report is attractive and well designed. The heading and the subheadings have been used cleverly with a mixture of both paragraphs and dot points. There are spaces for tables and pictures with simple and short texts, which can be understood by everyone. There is sufficient use of images, graphs, and tables to make the report attractive and statistically relevant. The length of the report is long, as it has given a detailed account of the public health issues, the steps that have already been taken, the strengths and the weaknesses, the anticipated actions, the partners and recommendations. Each section of the report has been divided as per the wider determinants of health like employment, housing, environment, green space, safety and crime as well as interventions for issues like obesity, wellbeing, diabetes, and physical activities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the report has managed to address the key areas of business that are of concern to the stakeholders thus showing competent leadership. However, the report could be improved further and ensure more information is included to attract new investors by revealing information regarding the goal and vision of the organization hence portraying even better leadership skills.

References

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