NHS re-organisation in England – update on Faculty activity
October 2006
The Faculty is working on its members' behalf to protect and strengthen the senior public health workforce.
At our request, the Department of Health held a workshop in July with Caroline Flint (Minister for Public Health), Sir Liam Donaldson (Chief Medical Officer, England ), Dr Fiona Adshead (Deputy CMO, England ) and the new Regional Directors of Public Health, to discuss how the capacity of the public health workforce could be strengthened across the regions. This was a broadly positive meeting. It was agreed that each region needed a workforce plan and that the workforce situation in each region needed to be closely monitored by the Regional Directors of Public Health.
Subsequently, we wrote a letter to the Prime Minister [pdf] responding to his recent statements about public health. He has responded (letter from the Prime Minister [pdf]) , indicating that the public health workforce is high on Caroline Flint's agenda. He also confirmed that the Department of Health is working to ensure that the total public health workforce capacity is not reduced. The Faculty continues to liaise with and feedback to the Department of Health and several key meetings are planned for the next few weeks.
The Faculty undertook surveys of the active specialist public health workforce in 2003 and 2005. 18% of the 2005 respondents indicated they might leave public health in the next five years. To follow up these alarming findings the Faculty, with support from the Department of Health (England), undertook a small qualitative analysis to explore retention issues further. A number of key themes emerged from this piece of work and the report concluded that urgent action needs to be taken to improve the working conditions of senior public health staff in order to improve staff retention. We have sent the confidential report to Sir Liam Donaldson, and have requested a meeting with him, representatives from the Department of Health and the Regional Directors of Public Health. The outcome of this meeting and agreed action will be shared when available. The Faculty plans to conduct a further workforce survey in 2007.
The Faculty has a key role to play in upholding a rigorous appointment process for consultant appointments and this is especially important during periods of organisational change. The Faculty has been actively involved in providing assessors and advice for employers during the current organisational change. A summary of all appointments made during 2006 will be published in the Faculty's next annual report.