Content of training
Public Health competencies
The final competencies for a public health consultant
Higher specialist training equips trainees to work as public health consultants. Once completed, trainees will have the skills and knowledge to:
- Quantitatively and qualitatively assess the population's health and heath needs, including managing, analysing, interpreting, and communicating information that relates to the determinants and status of health and well-being and allows development of effective action.
- Critically assess the evidence relating to the effectiveness of health and healthcare interventions, programmes and services, apply this to practice and improve services and interventions through audit and evaluation.
- Influence the development of policies, implement strategies to put the policies into effect and assess the impact of policies on health.
- Lead teams and individuals, build alliances, develop capacity and capability, work in partnership with other practitioners and agencies and effectively use the media to improve health and wellbeing.
- Promote the health of populations by influencing lifestyle and socio-economic, physical and cultural environment through methods of health promotion, including health education, directed towards populations, communities and individuals.
- Protect the public's health from communicable and environmental hazards by application of a range of methods including hazard identification, risk assessment and the promotion and implementation of appropriate interventions.
- Support commissioning, clinical governance, quality improvement, patient safety, equity of service provision and prioritisation of health and social care services.
- Collect, generate, synthesise, appraise, analyse, interpret and communicate intelligence that measures the health status, risks, needs and health outcomes of defined populations.
- Teach and research in public health.
Knowledge base
The knowledge base for public health
Public health skills are built on a knowledge base which is detailed in the MFPH Part A syllabus, including:
- Basic and clinical sciences including research method, epidemiological and statistical method, health needs assessment and evaluative technique.
- Disease causation and prevention including health promotion, screening, communicable disease and environmental hazard control and social politics.
- Organisation and delivery of health care, including health intelligence.
- Knowledge of the law as it affects the population's health.
- Leadership and management skills including change management and health economics.
This knowledge base has been mapped to the nine key areas of public health practice and every learning outcome has a clearly identified knowledge base (other than those which define attitudes and behaviours).
Trainees may attend a formal academic course or prepare for the examination under their own direction.
The Part A MFPH examination is held twice yearly, in January and June. Trainees would normally be expected to sit this examination at the earliest opportunity depending on the length of their academic course.
