A major initiative in England led by the Chief Medical Officer since 1998 has been to strengthen the public health function. The interim report of this initiative [Dept of Health, 1998] described three main categories that comprise the public health workforce. These are public health specialists - commonly doctors and others trained in epidemiology and possessing the skills and knowledge to advise on interventions to improve population health; public health practitioners, including community nurses, environmental health officers and midwives, whose day to day work has a direct influence on public health; and the 'wider' public health category, which includes general medical practitioners, teachers and others who are in a position to influence the community's health, although it is not their primary focus. This paper will describe an ambitious project to plan the public health workforce in London. Previous English studies had identified only the NHS public health workforce. We were intent on identifying not only health professionals in defined public health roles, but also people in many other sectors whose role contributes to improving the health of communities. In England, many such people do not view themselves as public health workers and so we developed a validated classification tool to identify this 'wider' public health workforce and then to explore the implications of the results in terms of public health training and development needs. The paper will describe the sampling methodology and the findings of this mapping exercise.
Learning Objectives: The audience will understand the role of public health in the context of the modern English NHS and its partner organisations; learn how the multidisciplinary public health workforce capacity is defined and mapped; understand a new methodology for mapping the workforce, which is transferable to other systems and other occupational groups; be able to link workforce mapping with developing capability, by identifying the training and development needs of the workforce.
Keywords: Public Health, Workforce
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.