Public health increases in political importance

There is a general increase in public awareness around public health issues, and subsequent expectations on public health specialists. With greater localism, there is increased potential for the public to put pressure on policymakers to achieve specific policy ends in public health, e.g in community design/development, smoking ban, sugar, fracking.  Given this trend, it will become increasingly important for public health specialists to engage with local populations.

There is a view that public health as a profession needs to be better at influencing elected members, council officers and the wider population - to advocate and inform decision-making.  It is important to communicate clear messages and not rely on people following the evidence.

This will mean that skills will need to change and in the long-term people in public health will need to become more adaptable and are more politically astute. It may also mean roles become clearly defined, with more technically focused jobs remaining in Public Health England/NHS and wider advocacy type roles being in local government.

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.