About Public Health Training in the South West

This prospectus describes placements with the South West Office of the Regional Director of Public Health (hereafter referred to as the Regional Office). This includes the South West (SW) Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and NHS England (NHSE) including Healthcare Public Health and Vaccination and Screening.

Following the closure of Public Health England on October 1st, 2021, the Regional Director of Public Health and their deputy are jointly appointed by the Department of Health and Social Care’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and NHSE. The Regional Office provides a combination of leadership, coordination and programme delivery that spans the domains of health care public health and health improvement and supports strategically (and with major incident response) on health protection. The Regional Office supports Integrated Care Systems and the NHS system more generally in working towards a population health-based approach. It collaborates with and supports the Directors of Public Health in Local Authorities to deliver ‘place-based’ priorities.

 

 

The diagram below outlines how the Regional Office is positioned in the new public health system. Further information can also be found at: About us - Office for Health Improvement and Disparities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The regional office works across organisational boundaries and supports local PH teams as well as national public health functions.

Each of the tiers in the above diagram is interdependent horizontally and vertically and public health professionals wherever they are positioned are adept at operating across these levels and structures.

Within the Regional Office, the Health Care Public Health Team in NHSE works as a blended team with the Population Health and Wellbeing Team and both are managerially accountable to the Regional Director of Public Health. This team includes consultants with specialist skills in health care public health, health improvement and dental public health. Consultants are supported by a number of public health practitioners and support officers. The Regional Office also hosts a small workforce development and business support team.

The regional Vaccination and Screening Team are embedded within NHSE and comprises consultants who have specialised in screening and immunisation and a specialist practitioner team. All teams work within their host agencies at local, regional and national levels and externally with the agencies that comprise the wider system of public health to tackle health inequalities and improve population health.

Public Health Training in OHID and NHSE

The Regional Office provides a range of training opportunities and experience to meet the needs of StRs learning outcomes.  Projects provide StRs with the opportunity to work at strategic level, allowing them to demonstrate proactive approaches and independent working, strong leadership and advocacy skills.

Although working at the Regional Office is in a hybrid format, registrars on placement are allocated a base relevant to the project/programme of work and the team they are working in. This will normally be geographically based according to current training rotation and as agreed with the Training Programme Team and the regional team’s Specialty Tutor. It is expected that registrars will attend the Office between 4-8 days a month and will be agreed with your supervisor.

The following are established training locations under the Regional Office.

For OHID:

  • 2 Rivergate, Bristol. BS1 6EH

For NHSE:

  • South West House, Taunton, TA1 2PE
  • 360 Bristol, BS1 3NX (moving to Temple Street Offices in Bristol in 2024)

The Regional Office as a Training Location

  • A placement with the teams that comprise the Regional Office offers a range of diverse opportunities for Specialty Registrars and other trainees in Public Health practice.
  • Training opportunities include placements with teams in the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, the Screening and Immunisation Team and the Healthcare Public Health Team which includes specialised commissioning and its ‘Critical Thinking Unit’.
  • Training placements can be tailored to the interests and learning needs of individual registrars.
  • Training is co-ordinated in a planned systematic way incorporating the wide range of training opportunities across the teams in the Regional Office in the SW.
  • Registrars have opportunities to work on cross cutting projects with a wide range of stakeholders both within and outside of OHID and NHSE and take on significant leadership roles.
  • Some competencies may be met by undertaking a project with one or more partner organisations such as NHSE, local authorities or in collaborations with a Clinical Network, Academic Research Collaborative or Academic Health Science Network.
  • There are a range of educational and activity supervisors working within the Region who provide support.
  • Current registrars and GP scholars also offer peer support and joint learning activities. There are also lunch & learn activities as well as organisational development opportunities on offer.
  • Training placements are typically taken up by registrars towards the end of phase 2 of training.  Short work experience placements in public health are also offered e.g. masters students or F2 doctors.

Training Placements with the Regional Office

OHID

The OHID team supports local authorities and the NHS to improve health and wellbeing of the local population. We work with a range of partners and stakeholders such as clinical networks, the voluntary sector and other government departments to improve health and help reduce health inequalities through evidence-based interventions. We help promote a place-based approach to health and support actions that build healthy places, people and communities. We help in making the case for prevention in a wide range of topic areas including; mental health, workplace health, musculoskeletal health, smoking, alcohol and drugs, sexual health, children and young people’s health, obesity, physical activity, healthy built and natural environments, and sustainability.

Working with the regional OHID team could address learning outcomes in key areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Specific competencies to be signed off will be discussed in more detail with the successful applicant.

Healthcare Public Health

Regionally, the healthcare public health team support NHSE on population health and provide leadership and expert advice to strategic functions to ensure services are evidence-based and address population health need. This includes advising on the local implementation of policies, working with regional colleagues on health and care priorities and ensuring that interventions to improve population health outcomes are accelerated and evaluated. The healthcare public health team have a particular focus on addressing health inequalities and strengthening prevention within the NHS to improve population health outcomes.   

Specialised commissioning is the NHSE function for directly commissioned services for patients with rare and complex conditions. These services are determined by a range of factors, including the number of individuals who require the service, the cost of provision, the number of institutions able to provide the service and the financial implications of provision. The specialised commissioning consultant provides healthcare public health leadership, advice and support to the national and regional commissioning team for specialised services. The consultant undertakes national work such as developing evidence-based commissioning policies and evidence reviews, contributes to the national Individual Funding Requests management system and advises Programme of Care Boards and Clinical Reference Groups.

A review of population healthcare training was undertaken in 2019 by the SW population and public health academy.  Please contact PublicHealth.SW@hee.nhs.uk for a copy of the report which also contains examples of projects.

Regional Healthcare Public Health work offers opportunities for registrars that could address learning outcomes in key areas of 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Vaccination and Screening

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the section 7A agreement, NHSE commission and hold a Systems Leadership role for the national Screening and Immunisation programmes.  NHSE employs specialist public health staff in order to provide public health expertise to the commissioning of quality screening and immunisation services, including work to increase uptake and address health inequalities across the region.

A review of education and training in screening and immunisation was undertaken by the SW population and public health academy in 2019.   Please contact publichealth.sw@hee.nhs.uk for a copy of the report, which contains a list of potential projects.

Screening and Immunisation projects are supported and encouraged by the training programme, educational supervisors and the Vaccination and Screening team, and there is an expectation that all registrars will undertake at least one screening and one immunisation related learning activity during training, based either within the local authority setting or with the Vaccination and Screening team.

Working with the regional Vaccination and Screening team could address learning outcomes in key areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Arrangements for Placements

The Regional Office is able to offer a range of training placements for Phase 2 registrars tailored to their learning outcome needs. Many work projects involve complex systems leadership and extensive collaborative working with a wide range stakeholders. Examples of work that could be undertaken by specialty registrars are detailed in Appendix 1 (below).

There is an opportunity to co-produce projects depending on the specific interest of the StR. The Regional Office also offers specialist training to accommodate a defined interest a registrar may wish to develop. Both arrangements allow registrars to build experience in core skills, whilst the latter to gain extended experience.

The Process for Accessing a Training Opportunity

All StR Phase 2 placement opportunities will be circulated via the Specialty Tutors for OHID, Vaccination and Screening, and HCPH to registrars through the SW Training Programme. If a registrar is interested in a placement opportunity, this should be discussed with their Local Authority Educational Supervisor and the Training Programme Team in the first instance. Should the Training Programme Team agree to proceed, they should liaise with the relevant Specialty Tutor in the Regional Office. Accredited educational and activity supervisors in the Regional Office are listed in Appendix 2 (below).

Using pro-forma, any placement opportunity will be agreed by the Training Programme Team and the regional team’s Specialty Tutor prior to advertisement. If approved, the advert will be disseminated to all eligible registrars by the Training Programme Team with a request for expressions of interest. If more than one StR applies for a particular placement, a selection process of a discussion with the Head of School and informal interviews take place.

For Phase 2 registrars in their ST5 year of training, who want to develop their public health experience at regional level or specialise with one of the teams that comprise the regional office, an extended placement can be considered. This will be based on an assessment of their learning needs and consideration of Key Area 10 outcomes and agreed for a minimum of 6 months. These placements will require agreement between the Training Programme Team, regional team’s Specialty Tutor and proposed regional team Educational Supervisor.

The Regional Office also offers training to trainees from other training programmes e.g. GP/PH scholars, F2 placements, academic, MPH, and PhD students. In addition, shorter placements for individuals seeking work experience in public health are also offered.

Support and Supervision for Specialty Registrars in Public Health

Following agreement to commence a placement (project/extended), a pre-placement meeting with all the relevant supervisors should be convened at least four weeks before placement commencement. The pre-placement meeting will identify learning needs and agree a provisional learning contract

An honorary contract (or equivalent) for the duration of the training placement in the Regional Office is required and coordinated by the SW Public Health Training Programme (diane.lloyd7@nhs.net) and the Specialty Tutor in the Regional Office.

The Regional Office offers a bespoke induction programme developed for each registrar, which starts on their first day and covers an introduction to all relevant teams in the Regional Office.

Educational/Activity supervisors are responsible for the overview of their registrar’s training, holding regular 1:1 meetings and having an open-door policy. Annual leave, study leave, and other planned leave should be negotiated with the supervisor in conjunction with the Training Programme Team as appropriate. Registrars will be expected to report sickness absence to their placement Activity/Educational supervisor during their placement, which should subsequently be reported to the Training Programme Team by the placement Activity/Educational Supervisor.

StRs on placement are welcome as members of the team they have joined.  Registrars will have the benefits of being able to access the same learning, development and training resources available to staff in their host organisation (to be discussed with your supervisor if this incurs a cost). These opportunities include update sessions, staff development days, topic specific webinars, and lunch and learn sessions. Specifically, also StRs have access to intranet resources e.g. Knowledge Centre in OHID and a regularly updated regional learning and development collated resource.

At the end of the placement, the registrar will be asked to provide feedback on the placement as part of an exit meeting.

Below are some vignettes from recent public health StRs who completed a placement with the Regional Office:

OHID placement

My 6 month placement (0.8FTE) in the Population Health & Wellbeing team at OHID South West has been a really valuable experience. It’s been great to get a regional perspective of the public health landscape in addition to previous experience in local authority, UKHSA health protection on-calls, BNSSG ICB and some national covid surveillance work during the pandemic.

My main piece of work, supervised by Rachael McClatchey, is implementing a realist evaluation of the local government mechanisms in use to improve the health and wellbeing of tenants in the private rented sector in the South West – this an academic study in collaboration with UWE, which involved a survey and interviews with private rented sector teams and a documents review of housing strategies and policies

Another piece of work was to promote the NHS SmokeFree pledge in the South West; I worked with national colleagues in ASH and local authority and ICB tobacco control leads in the South West to understand the current appetite and readiness of the systems to implement the pledge. I hosted a webinar to share best practice in December 2022 and continue to support systems to improve SmokeFree policies. I applied a behavioural change model to this work which helped shape where our work should focus on improving the evidence base and rationale for signing the pledge.

Working regionally has been really interesting and challenging especially in time of transition for OHID and NHSE. It’s been really valuable to attend weekly SW meetings where we hear updates from National OHID and DHSC and, compared to local authority, it inevitably feels closer to central government and it’s been really useful to gain that core civil service perspective. The team are friendly, supportive and keen to ensure that registrars are getting a good training experience – I would definitely recommend a placement here to understand what happens ‘at region’.  

Dr Claire Ferraro MBBS MSc MFPH

Public Health Registrar (ST3)

OHID/NHSE placement

Joining the Population Health & Wellbeing team at OHID South West has been a fantastic opportunity to gain insight into work at a regional level and develop a range of public health skills. During my 7 month placement (0.6FTE) I received excellent support to develop a clear learning agreement and work plan that has enabled me to sign off LOs across several key areas including completion of my KA10 interview. My main piece of work, supervised by Ulrike Harrower, has been to design and develop service improvement looking at hypertension case finding and management in the prison population with a focus on reducing health inequalities. The project has involved undertaking an audit, literature review, focus group with prisoners and some economic modelling to inform recommendations which I have presented to key stakeholders regionally and nationally. As a senior registrar I have been given the opportunity to lead this piece of work and gain experience in project management, stakeholder engagement, and wider system working, with support available when needed.

My ES, Sara Blackmore, was responsive to my individual learning needs and has provided the opportunity to work at senior level on wider programme delivery. This involved supporting delivery of the Outcomes Framework and developing “ways of working” for the blended OHID / NHSE team for the population health function. This has given me exposure to some of the challenges of working at senior level, helping to prepare me for CCT and consultant roles. I have had the opportunity to join weekly integrated team meetings, SLT and all staff away days with the wider OHID / NHSE blended team. There is a commitment to ensuring registrar receive a good, personalised training experience and the team are friendly and supportive. I would highly recommend this as a training location for registrars at a range of ST levels.

Dr Georgina Angel

Public Health Registrar (ST4)

NHSE Placement

"I have really valued the opportunity to work at a regional level during training. The placement offered a unique perspective on the various organisational interfaces and functions region has. The team was warm and welcoming with the right balance of support and expectation for my grade of training. I would thoroughly recommend the opportunity to fellow registrars." (Supervised by Ulrike Harrower)

Dr Rory Honney BM BCh MA(Oxon) MScPH MRCP(London) MRCGP(UK) MFPH FFMLM
Primary Care & Public Health Doctor
Acting Consultant in Public Health (South West) 

Education Supervisors Forum

The Regional Office has regular Educational and Activity Supervisor meetings and a MS Teams site which acts as a virtual network and supports all supervisors. Public Health StRs on placement are invited to attend and contribute to these meetings.

There is a combined OHID and NHSE educational supervisors network, in addition to separate ones within each organization. These ensure educational supervisor knowledge is current.

There are OHID and NHSE StR national networks that welcome regional StRs attendance and contributions.

APPENDIX 1 

Examples of projects for Public Health Specialty Registrars within the region

Team/ organisation

Examples of projects and competence areas

Healthcare public health, NHSE
  • Opportunities to advise on evidence-based interventions and service redesign to reduce health inequalities across clinical pathways and settings to inform health service improvement and transformation.
  • Opportunities to: develop policies and strategies; undertake service reviews and service design, needs assessments; consideration of Individual Funding Requests.
  • Provide leadership, advocacy and co-production across a wide range of stakeholders to embed ownership and sustainability of agreed approaches. Delivery of objectives will be in collaboration with a range of partners, such as; Local Authorities, ICSs, NHSE, Clinical Networks, Cancer Alliances, Clinical Reference Groups, Academic Health Science Network.
  • Drive quality improvement, e.g. by advising on impact measures or develop predictive models to support a shift of resources towards prevention
  • Opportunities to undertake a project with health & justice e.g. needs or health inequalities assessments; service implementation.
  • Opportunities to work across NHSE and OHID alongside the blended team on programmes such as improving outcomes for CVD and developing insights through e.g. predictive modelling tools.
  • Supporting development of more junior public health practitioners or a public health apprentice, with numerous opportunities for teaching.
  • Opportunities to design or lead cross system programs of work, including chairing working groups or events
  • Contribute to regional funding and performance oversight

Health and wellbeing, OHID
  • Use of subnational datasets to shape regional priorities and program delivery methods.
  • Regional mapping to understand need and program delivery methods, eg. of stakeholders, or services and pathways.
  • Scope a routine surveillance offer eg. an annual monitoring report including identification and assessment of potential data sources, and proposed use.
  • Write briefings either for the Regional Office of Public Health, or for external audiences eg. South West Directors of Public Health, South West NHSE.
  • Implement national policy (based on evidence), or scope and carry out literature reviews to inform regional priorities and programs
  • Assist or lead development of project proposals, planning, initiation, and delivery.
  • Contribute to or lead evaluation of regional programs, eg. pilot program on improving access for vulnerable populations to primary care.
  • Develop a regional strategy (internal or external) on evidence-based principles and tailored to regional need, eg. regional strategy on reducing gambling related health harms, or Suicide Prevention plan for Higher Education.
  • Supporting development of more junior public health practitioners or a public health apprentice.
  • Opportunities to design or lead cross system programs of work, including chairing working groups or events.
  • Develop a regional engagement plan to support the implementation of work, eg. setting up of a rolling program of communications, methods for sharing best practice, running regional stakeholder events.
  • Contribute to regional funding and performance oversight.
  • Assurance and quality monitoring of local services or programs.
  • Numerous opportunities for teaching 1:1, small groups or large groups.
  • Support to collaborate with academic institutions to bring academic rigor to service work, and possibly aim for publication outputs.

Vaccinations and Screening, NHSE
  • Service review and evaluation of new delivery models.
  • Experience of commissioning of screening and immunisation programmes, commissioning new elements and recommissioning existing programmes.
  • Use evidence to influence commissioning for health.
  • Gain experience with the quality assurance processes for screening and immunisation programmes.
  • Gain experience on incident management, including Serious Incidents, in both screening and immunisation programmes.
  • Working with stakeholders, including local authorities, other System partners and local communities, to promote increased uptake and reduce inequalities.

 

 

APPENDIX 2

Accredited Educational and Activity Supervisors in the Regional Office in the SW

 

Public Health Domain

Supervisory role

Contact details

Regional Director of Public Health, Regional Office

Activity supervisor

Prof Debbie Stark

Debbie.stark@dhsc.gov.uk

Deputy Director, Regional Office

Training lead

Prof Sara Blackmore

Sara.blackmore@dhsc.gov.uk

Deputy Director of HCPH Programmes and Head of School, NHSE

Educational supervisor

Prof Maggie Rae

Maggie.rae@phe.gov.uk

Deputy Director of HCPH Programmes and consultant for specialised commissioning

Activity supervisor

Nevila Kallfa

n.kallfa@nhs.net

Population health and Healthcare Public Health

consultant, NHSE

Regional Office training lead and specialty tutor for NHSE

Dr Ulrike Harrower

Ulrike.harrower1@nhs.net

Health and Wellbeing Consultant

Specialty tutor for OHID

Dr Rachael McClatchey

Rachael.McClatchey@dhsc.gov.uk

Health and Wellbeing Consultant

Educational supervisor

Dr Ishani KarPurkayastha

Ishani.karpurkayastha@dhsc.gov.uk

Health and Wellbeing Consultant

Educational supervisor

Zoe Clifford

 

Health and Wellbeing manager

Activity supervisor

Justine Womack

Justine.womack@dhsc.gov.uk

Health and Wellbeing manager

Activity supervisor

Russ Moody

Russ.moody@dhsc.gov.uk

Health and Wellbeing Manager, OHID

Activity supervisor

Doug Haines

Doug.haines@dhsc.gov.uk

Health and Justice lead, NHSE

 

Activity supervisor

Rachel Campbell

Rachel.campbell35@nhs.net

Vaccination and Screening consultant, NHSE

Educational supervisor

Dr Alison Mackenzie

Alison.mackenzie6@nhs.net

Vaccination and Screening consultant, NHSE

Specialty Tutor of Vaccination and Screening

Dr Emma Kain

Emma.kain@nhs.net

Vaccination and Screening consultant, NHSE

Educational supervisor

Matthew Dominey

Matthew.dominey@nhs.net

Screening and immunisation manager

Activity supervisor

Elizabeth Luckett

Elizabeth.luckett@nhs.net
Dental Public Health consultant lead, NHSE Educational supervisor

Prof Rob Witton

Robert.witton@plymouth.ac.uk

Dental Public Health consultant lead, NHSE

Educational supervisor

Zoe Allen

Zoe.allen4@nhs.net

Associate Director Local Knowledge and Intelligence Service, OHID National

Activity supervisor

Paul Brown

Paul.Brown@phe.gov.uk

Local Knowledge and Intelligence Service, OHID National

Activity supervisor

Gbenga Olatunde

Olugbenga.Olatunde@phe.gov.uk

 

This page was last updated in January 2024

This page was last updated December 9th 2021 (2 years ago)