Citation
(2001), "Department of Health", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 14 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2001.06214gag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Department of Health
Department of Healthhttp://www.doh.gov.uk/
This issue's featured Web site, http://www.doh.gov.uk/, is the official Web site of the Department of Health, the government department responsible for public health issues in the UK. It offers easy access to the latest news and information about the department, and a wide range of health publications, policy and guidance. As well as the normal visual presentation, the site has a text-only version, which is slightly quicker to use but rather more utilitarian.
Its home page gives a brief description of the Department and provides direct access to the NHS Web site, for those of you who want to find out more about how the NHS works and about local NHS services and the NHS Direct Web sites, which provide health information and advice. There is also a section called "Inside Story", which provides access to news features.
The main menu options from the home page are:
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About the Department: this provides information about the Department and how it operates through links to The Department at a Glance; The Department in detail; Departmental Report; National Service Framework, and Open Government. Each of these provides easy-to-negotiate information pages.
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What's New?: this provides access to information about new publications or new information as well as any major changes to the site itself.
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Publications: this is a very fruitful link, providing access to almost all the material published by the Department of Health in electronic format: Departmental circulars and publications, White and Green Papers, Bulletins of various kinds (Chief Executive, HR Directors, GPs, Medical Directors etc.), Key Documents such as Government expenditure plans, Statistical Publications, Health Service Abstracts (for which a subscription is needed), and Press Releases. It also provides access to the NHS IM&T Electronic Library, an online knowledge base for all involved in the management and delivery of Information Management and Technology (IM&T) within the English National Health Service (NHS).
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Newsdesk: this presents access to both the latest news and a news archive.
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NHS: this (not available in text version) provides links to information about NHS Organisations, such as the NHS Executive, Regional Offices and Business Units, such as the Disability Services Team and the Health and Social Care Joint Unit. It also provides access to information about the NHS, publications, and statistics and surveys.
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Social Care: this links to very comprehensive information about the Social Care Group, one of three business groups within the Department. The Social Care Group (SCG) leads the Department's policy work on the personal social services and supports the Secretary of State in exercising his statutory powers of guidance, direction, inspection and inquiry. Its joint heads are the Chief Social Services Inspector and the Head of Social Care Policy. The group includes the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI). As well as links to all social care group Web sites, it also provides key information about SCG/SSI publications.
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Public Health: this is slightly less informative in general terms than the others, but it does provide comprehensive links to sites about all of its work areas, to Advisory Committees such as SCOTH – the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health, and to other departments.
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Statistics and Surveys: this provides links to the Statistics Division of the Department of Health, which is part of the Government Statistical Service, and a range of statistical reports. However, at the times of my visits, not all of the links were working, although the site is being redesigned, and this might be the reason for the failure.
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Research and Development: this links to a very comprehensive set of pages dealing with research in the NHS.
In addition to the menu outlined above, there is also a comprehensive Links menu. This includes links to the NHS and Social Care Links Databases. These are sources of Web sites, categorised by, for example, profession, title, provider, UK sites by region. It also includes links to Department of Health Executive Agencies, such as the Medicines Control Agency and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, and to Non-Departmental Public Bodies, such as The Commission for Health Improvement and The National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Other links are provided to further information about the NHS, such as careers, to Public Inquiries, such as The Shipman Inquiry, to Health and Social Care Campaigns, and to other health organisations, such as the Nuffield Trust and the National Centre for Clinical Audit. The final set of links is to other Government sites, both national and international.
This is an attractive and apparently well maintained site, with almost all of the links working – difficult to achieve in such a comprehensive site. It provides an excellent resource for those wishing to know what is happening to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the UK, as well as an ideal starting-point for finding resources about a wide range of health issues. At the time of the last visit in July the site was being redesigned, although most of it seemed to have been done, and the redesign did not seem to be having any major effect on access to most of the information. It is also a useful starting point for those with an interest in health in other countries; its links to international sites are far more useful than trying to find access through many of the search engines. Above all, it is an ideal source of reference for the many wide-ranging changes that are occurring in health care in the UK.