Marmot to Montmartre: benefits of a European network for UK registrars
In May this year we were supported by the Faculty of Public Health to represent the UK at the Euronet Spring Meeting in Paris as Co-chairs of the Euronet UK National Commission. Euronet is a network of European public health residents and remains the only consistent and FPH-supported way for UK registrars to engage with European peers. As such, it is an invaluable opportunity to gain insights into the variation of public health training and practice across Europe.
After working alongside 115 public health residents from across eight European countries over the course of three days, we left the Spring Meeting feeling enlightened, challenged and inspired. It improved our understanding of training and practice abroad. We found that most countries focus on hospital-based or healthcare public health and are focused on the ‘downstream’ elements of health. This might explain why the UK remains the only country with non-medical speciality trainees in public health – a unique asset of the UK public health workforce. This challenged our perceptions of the ‘lens’ that public health practitioners adopt in other countries, finding that the values we hold to be self-evident in the UK are often not well embedded elsewhere in the same way. We recognised that as UK trainees we hold a deep commitment to addressing the social determinants of health and work within a public health ecosystem which facilitates this ‘upstream’ focus, holding it as a core and essential principle of the way we understand the role of public health. This meant we left the meeting feeling inspired to be working within a diverse, holistic public health system that makes tangible the wider determinants of our health and wellbeing.
Finally, we were struck by how flexible many other training programmes are when facilitating resident placements in other countries. Many residents we spoke to had undertaken a placement outside of their country of training, often funded by their ‘base’ country training programme. The support that residents received in finding and undertaking these opportunities meant that they had a far greater exposure to international working and European public health generally than UK registrars.
Our insights informed our three key recommendations, which are:
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The UK should apply to be a host of a future EuroNet Spring Meeting, preferably in 2027.
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The FPH should continue to support a minimum of two registrars to attend the EuroNet Spring meeting annually, as regular attendance is vital to supporting ongoing engagement with and learning from the network.
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The FPH should work with registrars including through the SRC to identify ways to significantly improve the flexibility of the training programme for placements within and outside of the UK.
UK training is not in line with that of other European countries, where undertaking placements in other nations (within and outside of the EU) is encouraged and supported. As a result, UK registrars are put at a disadvantage compared to European colleagues as they do not have access to the same benefits of international collaboration and joint working which include:
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Cross-pollination of ideas and practice that allow registrars to learn from best practice in other countries and share excellent practice within the UK with European colleagues.
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The ability to critically analyse our own systems from a different perspective, encouraging a recognition of areas which require improvement but also highlight the positive aspects of working within unique systems such as the NHS.
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Feeling inspired and energised to be working within the UK public health system as a leader in its perspective on social determinants and community engagement.
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Increased workforce retention within the UK that results from global engagement opportunities.
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And the application of international learning to the benefit of local organisations and communities.
We will continue to work with FPH and the wider Euronet UK working group towards these aims and to keep championing the importance of international partnerships in our training and our work as consultants. We remain grateful to the FPH for recognising the strategic value of this network through longstanding support in paying the annual membership fee and particularly in supporting two UK registrars to attend this meeting.
If you are interested in contributing to the work above and/or becoming involved in other Euronet UK projects please get in touch with us at euronetmrphuk@gmail.com.
If you are a member of FPH, you can register here for the free webinar Marmot to Montmartre: benefits of a European network for UK Registrars, taking place on Wednesday 30 July.
