Training
This section of the website is aimed at those who have been accepted onto, or are already in higher specialist training. Those considering applying for training should see the Faculty's Career Guidance microsite.
Who can specialise?
The higher specialist training programme in public health is open to both qualified medical doctors and those from other public health disciplines.
How long does specialist training take?
The typical training programme for specialising in public health is normally five years full time. This usually includes undertaking either one year full time, or two years part time to complete an academic course to provide the essential knowledge for the discipline. More on the length of training...
Specialist registration
On completion of the five-year training programme, medical doctors will be recommended to the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) for inclusion on the Specialist Register, while those from other disciplines will be recommended for registration with the UK Voluntary Register for Public Health Specialists. This qualifies them to work at consultant-level in the NHS.
All trainees in specialty training, starting from 1 August 2007 will be training to the new PMETB-approved 2007 curriculum. Trainees appointed prior to this can transfer to the 2007 curriculum as well.
The online version of the curriculum consists of three broad sections:
The curriculum for specialist training in public health describes all the required components of training that to lead to a certificate of completion of training (CCT) in public health.
The training covers nine key areas of public health practice across the three domains of public health, as well as ethical and professional practice.
The curriculum provides a framework within which trainees and trainers can determine and understand the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours which will allow a trainee to achieve the level of competence required of a specialist in the field.
It defines and describes the processes (recruitment, induction, assessment and remediation), phases of training , settings , learning methods and learning outcomes.
Alternatively, the full public health curriculum [1.28MB pdf] submitted to PMETB can be downloaded.
The Faculty's role in training
The Faculty of Public Health oversees the quality of training and professional development of public health consultants in the UK , and maintains the professional standards in the discipline.
It embraces the wider multidisciplinary public health workforce, continually expanding its membership and examinations to all those engaged in professional public health.
Equality and Diversity
The Faculty of Public Health will actively promote, and ensure compliance with, the requirements of relevant legislation, such as the: Human Rights Act 1998; Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000; Disability Discrimination Act 1995 , DDA 2005, Equality Act 2006 Special Educ ational Needs and Disabilities Act 2001; Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1998 and Gender Equality Duty (GED) 2007
The Faculty of Public Health believes that equality of opportunity is fundamental to the many and varied ways in which individuals become involved with the Faculty; as members of staff and Officers; as advisers to and members of the Faculty's committees; as doctors/other graduates in training and as examination candidates.
Accordingly, it warmly welcomes contributors and applicants from as diverse a population as possible, and actively seeks to recruit people to all its activities regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, age, gender or sexual orientation.
In addition the Faculty of Public Health believes that equality and diversity issues must underpin the core competency areas for the curriculum statement in order to ensure quality public services.