UKPHR made progress in Ireland through holding latest Consultative Forum in Belfast

For the first time UKPHR held a meeting of its Consultative Forum in Northern Ireland this month. An audience from across the UK and Ireland discussed public health practice and workforce issues, including regulation.

The Forum examined how well equipped the public health workforce is to meet health and wellbeing challenges and how well existing policies are suited to assist the workforce to meet these challenges. The Strategy Making Life Better forms the basis of cross-cutting and collaborative work in Northern Ireland to reduce health inequalities. The public health system is addressing a number of challenges including capacity, skills of the public health workforce, multidisciplinary leadership, closer working across the devolved administrations of the UK and Ireland and development of the wider workforce, especially in health and social care.

UKPHR’s Chair Professor Bryan Stoten said the event had been a very positive experience for all who attended:

“It was a well-attended event and certainly our presence in Northern Ireland was welcomed by the many local participants. It was clear from the discussion during the day, formal and informal, that there is a shared desire in Northern Ireland for a genuinely multidisciplinary leadership group of specialists, greater recognition of and developmental support for practitioners in the core public health workforce and a more systematic engagement of the wider workforce.”

Presentations by all the speakers can be found by clicking here.