Monthly Bulletin - Issue 35 - November 2007

In this update:

• From the President
• Annual Public Health Lecture
• Last chance to submit your abstract
• Mental Health & Work
• FPH support for smoking reduction target
• Chair of the Mental Health Working Group
• CPD reminder
• Wanted: Directors of Training
• Trainee needed for JSNA survey
• Climate change & health
• Show support for Sustrans
• Change to FPH Curriculum
• Public health & communications
• Specialised Health Promotion Conference
• International Workshop: Working in Developing Countries
• Events

From the President

Thanks to all those who sent in ideas about priorities for the FPH. We had a lot of support for the big topics – like alcohol, obesity, health inequalities, climate change – but also some less obvious issues such as global population growth. We'll feed all these thoughts into our policy development programme.

This month I'd like to seek your views on the way we organise our networks at local/regional level. As I go walkabout around the UK I'm seeing quite a variation in the degree to which public health professionals are linking up across each country and region.

In some areas there are clearly close ties and a strong feeling of togetherness. At the recent FPH Scottish Affairs Committee annual public health conference – a stimulating, informative and, I must say, fun event – there was a real buzz and a great feeling of a strong public health community across Scotland.

I know there are other good public health networks around the nation – but I also know that some regions are still struggling to knit together after the traumas of reorganisation.

Do you have suggestions about how public health might work better together at the regional level, and how we might forge better links between regions and the FPH centre in London?

Taking this a stage further, it would be good to hear ideas as to what mechanisms you think we might set up to engage and involve public health people across the UK in helping to formulate FPH policy and advocacy and take forward public health initiatives.

So, bring it on!

Alan Maryon-Davis

Annual Public Health Lecture

This year's annual public health lecture was given by the Right Honourable Dawn Primarolo MP - Minister of State for Public Health - on the 3 December in London.

If you missed the lecture you can listen to it on our website or read a summary report at: www.publichealthconferences.org.uk/annual_ph_lecture.php

Last chance to submit your abstract

The deadline for submission of abstracts for the 2008 FPH annual conference in Cardiff is fast approaching.

Go to www.publichealthconferences.org.uk/annual to submit your proposal before the 14 December 2007.

Mental Health & Work Position Statement

Britain's bosses are unaware of the scale of mental ill health in their workplaces or the enormous financial toll it can take, according to the FPH's Mental Health and Work position statement launched last week.

Mental health problems like stress, anxiety and depression caused or made worse by work are by far the biggest cause of sickness absence, costing an estimated £13bn in sickness pay and lost productivity, not to mention a further £12bn in public service spending and carers' time.

The statement highlights what employers can do to protect and improve the mental health of their workforce.

• For the full press release see www.fph.org.uk/press
• Or download the position statement on Mental Health and Work [pdf 133KB]

FPH support for smoking reduction target

The FPH is one of four leading public health organisations urging local planners to target smoking as a way of tackling health inequalities.

Smoking prevalence is a key indicator, not just for smoking-related diseases but also for health inequalities, since it is responsible for over half the difference in mortality rates across the social classes.

The FPH, Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH), the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and the Trading Standards Institute are now writing to lead members in local authorities and primary care trusts urging them to include a reduction in smoking at local level as a ‘stretch target' within their Local Area Agreement a in order to reduce health inequalities.

For further information, see:

• the Letter from the FPH & ADPH [pdf] and
• the ASH / CIEH briefing note on Local Area Agreements: Why they should include reduced smoking prevalence as a stretch target [pdf].

Chair of Mental Health Working Group

Our Mental Health Working Group is in need of a new chair. This well-established working group acts as a source of expert advice to the FPH on all areas relating to mental health. 

It advocates on mental health issues, produces resources to support local practice and contributes to the FPH annual conference.

It meets four times per year and reports to the FPH Policy Committee. Applicants should be FPH members with experience in mental health.

Please note that this is a voluntary position.

Interested individuals should email Hannah Pugh, Working Group Secretary (Tel: 020 7935 3115) for an application pack.

The deadline for applications is Friday 18 January 2008.

CPD reminder – all FPH members

CPD returns for 2007 (or applications for exemption) must be submitted to the Faculty office between 31 December 2007 and 31 March 2008.

All Faculty members must meet minimum CPD requirements in order to remain in good standing either by submitting an annual return or by ensuring that the Faculty has formally agreed to the reasons for your exemption.

 

• To submit a return, go to: www.fph.org.uk/prof_standards/cpd/portfolio_diary
• To apply for exemption, go to: www.fph.org.uk/prof_standards/cpd/exemptions

If you have any queries about the completion of your return or your application for exemption, please email the CPD administrator.

If you wish to discuss your CPD requirements, please contact your regional/country CPD Co-ordinator.

Wanted: Directors of Training

The Faculty of Public Health is appointing three new Directors of Training to support the work of the Faculty's Education and Training Department.

• Director of Registration and Training
• Director of Relationships with Training Programmes
• Director of Curriculum and Assessment

All three honorary posts are for three years initially with a possibility of renewal.

All Directors of Training require excellent communication and project management skills as well as a broad understanding of the public health workforce at all levels.

Interested applicants should send their CV and any queries to the FPH Head of Education and Training, Russell Ampofo via email by Wednesday 2 January 2008.

Further information is available at: www.fph.org.uk/about_faculty/vacancies/trainingdirectors.asp

Trainee needed for JSNA survey

Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) are a key part of the responsibilities of primary care trusts and local authorities in developing plans for Commissioning Health and Well-being.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the experience of undertaking Joint Strategic Needs Assessments can be challenging.

The FPH Information & Intelligence Committee are undertaking a survey of PCTs and canvassing views from public health specialists as to:

• the information and intelligence problems which have been encountered;
• how these problems may be best overcome;
• how the information available may be used most effectively.

A public health trainee is sought to undertake analysis of the data and the writing of a report.

The report will be considered by the I&I committee, and forwarded to the Association of Public Health Observatories and the NHS Information Committee. It will then be summarised in ph.com and presented at the FPH annual conference.

Interested trainees should email Hugh Sanderson by 7 December 2007.

Climate change & health

There are three key articles on climate change and health in the latest BMJ (1 December, Vol 335). It also includes a letter from the presidents of the FPH, the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child health entitled 'Climate change and health: We must all act now':

"We consider this to be the greatest public health disaster facing us today and one that requires action at local, national, and international level. We call on all health professionals to urge their colleagues, employers, and institutions to reduce their carbon footprint and to set an example in their personal lives. ... Only by firm and decisive action now, can we, as a global community, hope to avert or mitigate an impending public health catastrophe of immense proportions."

See the BMJ website

Show Support for Sustrans

Connect2 is a UK-wide Sustrans project to improve local travel in 79 communities by creating new walking and cycling routes for everyday journeys.

It is one of four projects in the Big Lottery Fund's The People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway.

Sustrans needs you to vote for Connect2.

• Online voting has begun at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk and will close at 12 noon on 10 December.
• Telephone voting lines will open at 9am on Friday 7 December, and the number will be available on the same website.

For details on Connect2 see www.sustransconnect2.org.uk

Change to FPH Curriculum

Please note that a change to the FPH curriculum has been agreed by PMETB. The change is to p7, the Training Timeline. The following bullet point has been added:

• Entry from either group who has completed an appropriate postgraduate degree in Public Health will lead to a reduction in training time provided the appropriate competencies in Phase 1 can be evidenced.

The online pdf version - available on the PMETB and the FPH websites - has been changed accordingly. www.fph.org.uk/training/downloads/curriculum_2007.pdf

Public health & communications

Whether dealing with the public, the media or colleagues, effective communications underpin all public health work.

In the March issue of ph.com we are focusing on communications: from internal communications, media relations and social marketing, to new technologies that are changing how we communicate.

If you have examples of successful communication strategies / approaches that you would like to share with colleagues, then please email Helen Keevy by the 12 December 2007.

We are particularly interested to hear about strategies and experience on how best to communicate 'bad news' to the public and the media as well as examples of the use of social networking sites (Bebo/Facebook etc) in public health communication strategies.

Specialised Health Promotion

17 December 2007
University of Staffordshire

This conference aims, through workshops and plenary sessions:

• to emphasise the value of health promotion, now and in the future, in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
• to address issues raised at last year's conference and to provide information about progress with implementing the recommendations of the report Shaping the Future of Public Health: Promoting Health in the NHS
• to enable delegates to share and discuss work on health promotion topics, settings, wider determinants of health, and workforce development

To register, and for further details, please see www.specialisedhealthpromotion.org.uk

International Workshop

The International Committee are hosting a 1-day workshop for public health professionals on 23 April 2008 at the Nuffield Hall, RCOG in London.  The event will provide a forum for delegates to:

• receive an update on the implementation of the Lord Nigel Crisp's report ‘ Global health partnerships: the UK contribution to health in developing countries' and the Chief Medical Officer for England's report ‘Health is Global '
• hear directly from organisations who can facilitate UK health experts in working overseas (HLSP, THET, Merlin, Red R, VSO)
• network, debate & discuss issues and develop solutions

Registration will commence in early 2008.  Further information will follow in due course.

Events

December 2007

Food Security or Food Democracy?
Rachel Carson Memorial Lecture, Tim Lang - Professor of Food Policy, City University
6 December 2007
London
Pesticide Action Network UK
For further information see the PAN UK website

Epidemiology: an introduction to concepts, theories, principles and methods
10-14 December 2007
Edinburgh
For further information see the University of Edinburgh Community Health Sciences website

 

Neighbourhood Planning for Physical Activity
Short Course
14 December 2007
Bristol
University of the West of England
For further information see: UWE Website

 

Moving Forward Across the British Isles
Annual Conference for the Specialised Health Promotion Workforce
17 December 2007
Staffordshire University
FPH, RSH & UKVRPHS
For further information see: Specialised Health Promotion website

January 2008

Climate Change And Its Impact On Health
29 January 2008
London
Royal College of Physicians London
For further information see the RCP website

April 2008

UKPHA Annual Conference
1-2 April 2008
Liverpool
UKPHA
For further information see: UKPHA website

 

Working in Developing Countries: a one-day workshop for public health professionals
23 April 2007
London
FPH International Committee
Further information will be available in January.

May 2008

Value of Life - Value of Death
21 May 2008
Sheffield Hallam University
UK Clinical Ethics Network
For further information see: UK Clinical Ethics Network website