West midlands

In the west midlands we have a public health practitioner registration scheme which recruited its eighth cohort in September 2016.

With the success of the scheme the UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) has approved a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) policy for registered practitioners. After being piloted in the west midlands, it was implemented nationally on 1 July 2016.

We are now rolling out a public health community fellowship scheme, where a specialty registrar leads a team of trainee doctors on a four month community voluntary sector project

We are also involved in advising and working with West Midlands’ Fire Service with regards to public health and prevention, making links between fire, social inequalities and health, including input into the national Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) Fire Service Toolkit and workforce training and development.

Recognising the key role of community pharmacy support staff, we have commissioned 200 training places for them to achieve RSPH Level 2 Award in Understanding Health Improvement.

A suite of podcasts on training in public health has been developed in the West Midlands to complement both specialists’ and practitioners’ learning, providing useful preparation for the masterclasses and signposting to further information (see SoundCloud and iTunes, search for "Training in Public Health", also #phdevelop).

The podcasts include a wide range of interviewees focusing on the sharing of their experiences, highlighting skills they have developed and how these relate to the curriculum (both Specialist and Practitioner). An editorial group with representation from HEE, FPH and the University of Birmingham leads the podcast development. From a practitioner perspective in particular, the podcasts provide useful “pre-listening” prior to attendance at relevant masterclasses.

Podcast topics

• WM PH Community Fellowship Scheme 
• UK PH Register
• Armed Conflict & Health
• Preparing for consultant interviews
• MFPH Part B Exam
• PH Ethics & Law
• Sustainability & Health
• Academic Public Health
• Transport & Health
• Global Health
• PH Workforce Development
• Community Development