Annual Public Health Reports

The Director of Public Health is employed by Devon County Council and works closely with local NHS organisations, Exeter City Council and the seven District Councils in Devon, as well as the Police and the voluntary and community sector. One of the responsibilities of the Director of Public Health is to produce an annual report. The 2023-24 Annual Public Health Report is focused on health in an ageing Devon.

Annual Public Health Report 2023-24

The full set of previous annual reports and the themes they covered is available below:

2022-23: Securing Devon’s Health and Wellbeing – Investing in Prevention

2021-22: Living with COVID-19

2020-21: COVID-19 Pandemic

2019-20: Planetary and human health

2018-19: Mental Health

2017-18: The health and wellbeing of children

2016-17: Place-based public health

2015-16: Fairness, equality and justice

2014-15: Health inequality

2013-14: The shape of things to come

2012-13: Progress made over the last six years

2011-12: 60 years of public health in Devon

2010-11: The health of older people

2009-10: Mental health

2008-09: The health of children and young people

2007-08: Tackling inequalities in health

Responsibility for Public Health moved back to local authorities from the NHS in April 2013. Public Health was last the responsibility of local authorities prior to the health reforms of 1974, at which time the County Medical Officer was responsible for producing an annual report on health in their community. The Annual Report of the County Medical Officer for Devon from 1952 is available here, and highlights the transformations in health and society seen since the middle of the 20th Century.