New Faculty Healthcare Committee
In response to a need expressed by our members, the Faculty will shortly be launching a new committee for improving health services.
The committee will focus on the public health aspects of commissioning, priority setting, quality assurance and healthcare provision in both the primary care and the acute sectors.
Further details of this committee will be circulated via the 'Improving Health Services' network group shortly. Any member interested in standing for the committee or interested in the future work of the committee should subscribe to the 'Improving Health Services' group. To subscribe, please register at: http://new.fph-groups.org.uk
National Symposium on Health and Sustainable Development
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
Friday 30 March 2007 10am - 3.30pm
This national symposium has been developed by the UK Public Health Association in collaboration with the Faculty of Public Health, the Commission for Sustainable Development, the Department of Health North West and the Greater Nottinghamshire Health & Environment Partnership. It draws upon two years' in-depth work including a national high-level Think Tank held on 1 February 2007.
Participants in the Symposium will be encouraged to comment on and develop the material generated at the Think Tank, identifying and agreeing key actions to be taken forward on the national stage.
Champions from within the different sectors across the UK will be identified to be responsible for ensuring these actions are taken up and progressed at the local, regional and national levels.
Although this symposium is for invited participants, members of the Faculty can apply for a place on the UKPHA website by 2 March 2007.
Evaluate our Hypertension Toolkit:
Win £100 of Book Tokens!
The Faculty is currently undertaking a formal review of the Easing the Pressure: Tackling Hypertension toolkit and the impact that it has had since its launch in May 2005.
Have you used this toolkit, and if so, what did you think of it? How has the toolkit changed public health policy in your local area?
A short online survey is now available, and we would greatly appreciate it if you could make your views known. The results of the survey will be presented to the Department of Health, and will greatly influence future Faculty publications.
Each person who fills in the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win book tokens to the value of £100 !
Download the toolkit [pdf]
Lightening the load: tackling overweight and obesity
The battle to tackle the nation's weight problem has been given a major boost by the publication of a new online ‘toolkit' to help local communities, councils and health bodies provide the services and support that overweight and obese people really need.
The toolkit, Lightening the load: tackling overweight and obesity, provides useful statistics, practical initiatives, evidence of effectiveness, checklists, frameworks and examples of good practice.
Published jointly by the National Heart Forum and Faculty of Public Health, the new toolkit incorporates all the latest guidance from NICE and other relevant organisations.
It has been fully endorsed by NICE, the Food Standards Agency, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Physicians; and is backed by the Department of Health.
Download Lightening the load free of charge from the Faculty's website.
Vice Chair, International Trainee Working Group
The Faculty's International Trainee Working Group supports the work of the International Committee and provides an e-forum for trainees interested in international public health. Isobel Duckworth, formerly vice chair, has recently taken over from Anna Jones as chair. A vacancy therefore exists for a vice chair. The position is open to any trainee on a recognised public health training programme.
Details on the role of the vice chair can be obtained from Caroline Wren at caroline.wren@talk21.com.
Applications in the form of a 250 word submission, outlining your reasons for wishing to be vice chair, should be sent to Caroline by Monday 19 March.
Prioritising Health Services Conference
The Faculty is sponsoring a one-day conference aimed at bringing together public health practitioners who have an interest in health service provision and quality. Prioritising Health Services - Threats and Opportunities will take place on the 26 April 2007 in Birmingham.
The conference supports the need for greater public health engagement in priority setting, commissioning and quality assurance in the context of healthcare provision within NHS organisations.
To register for the conference and for more information please see the Faculty's conference website.
Faculty Training Conference - Registration open
Where do you see yourself at the end of training? Will there be the right jobs in public health? Will they be in the NHS? How do you get the career you want, and how do you get the right training to get there? What choices do you have, and when is it worth taking that risk? How will the new curriculum help you?
The 2007 Training Conference on 17 April in Warwick will answer these questions and give you to opportunity to ask many more.
To register for the conference and for more information please see the Faculty's conference website.
Milroy Lecture
The Royal College of Physicians invites applications to deliver the MILROY LECTURE for 2009.
The Lecturer is appointed by Council and the subject should be of relevance to State medicine and public hygiene, although the interpretation of this can be broad. In summary, Dr Milroy's intention was to “promote the advancement of Medical Science along with the interests of philanthropic benevolence and of social welfare”. A copy of Dr Milroy's “suggestions” on the subject of his bequest may be obtained on request from the Conference Department. A list of recent lectures is also available from the Conference Department.
Applications should include a brief CV and a short paragraph of no more than 400 words on the subject selected.
Closing date for applications: 31 August 2007
Applications should be submitted to: Academic Registrar, Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place , Regent's Park, London NW1 4LE / Tel: 020 7935 1174 Ext. 564 / Fax: 020 7224 0719, trustfunds@rcplondon.ac.uk
Joint strategic needs assessment
Planned Duty of Co-Operation for PCTs and Local Authorities: Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
On 5 March the Department of Health launches the Commissioning Framework for Health and Well-being, focusing heavily on the assessment of local needs.
The framework describes how Directors of Public Health, Adult Social Services and Children's Services will be expected to work together to assess the future health and well-being needs of their local populations.
The framework acknowledges the need for high quality analytical information and support for Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, and includes suggestions for a minimum dataset.
The Framework will be available to download from the Department of Health website or from www.commissioning.csip.org.uk.
There will be a three-month consultation period, during which time a number of roadshows and presentations will be targeted at the public health community. Comments can be emailed to: commissioning@csip.org.uk.
Public health workforce census
The forthcoming Public Health workforce census being undertaken by the Information Centre will collect information on public health staff in post in the NHS on 28 February 2007.
The census will be administered through the usual Department of Health workforce planning channels, in keeping with the main NHS censuses with the deadline for returns being 31 March 2007.
Regional and Primary Care Trust Directors of Public Health have been notified of the census and requested to support their workforce colleagues in ensuring that the returns are as accurate as possible. Regional public health workforce leads will also support their areas in making census returns.
It is hoped that data from the census will become available by September 2007. The intention is to allow comparisons between areas which will enable PCTs and local systems to critically review their workforce.
Events
Only Faculty sponsored events are listed below, however a list of public health events across the UK is available at www.publichealthconferences.org.uk/all_events.php. If you would like to list your event, please email news@fph.org.uk.
National Symposium on Health and Sustainable Development
30 March 2007
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
For further information see: www.ukpha.org.uk
Faculty Training Conference
17 April 2007
Warwick
For further information see: www.publichealthconferences.org.uk/training
Prioritising Health Sevices - threats and opportunities
26 April 2007
Birmingham
For further information: www.publichealthconferences.org.uk/health_services_2007
Making Public Health Work
Faculty's Annual Conference
26-28 June 2007
Eastbourne
For further information: www.publichealthconferences.org.uk/annual
Patient Safety Research - Shaping the European agenda
24-26 September 2007
Porto, Portugal
UK Faculty of Public Health, University College London, WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety
For further information see www.patientsafetyresearch.org