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The Faculty of Public Health Medicine
This organisation was founded in 1972 as a joint Faculty of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It serves as a source of advice on public health issues and sets and maintains professional standards for the specialty of public health medicine through examinations, inspection/approval of training posts, and the co-ordination and monitoring of the continuing professional development programme. In addition to 2111 medically qualified Members and Fellows and 173 Specialist Registrars in training, it has 224 honorary members who are public health professionals without medical qualifications. The Scottish Affairs Committee takes forward the work of the Faculty in Scotland, including the organisation of an annual conference, but has no dentists or non-medically qualified health professionals among its members.
While the Steering Group has had great assistance from the Faculty, its Scottish Affairs Committee and its President in conducting this Review, the focus of the Faculty remains on examinations and standards rather than overall provision of the public health function. To date, the Faculty has been concerned primarily with medically qualified practitioners although the Review notes its recent agreement to work with the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene and the Multidisciplinary Public Health Forum ‘to create a national framework for accrediting qualifications, course and career oriented learning for all public health professionals’. In a Joint Statement of Intent, the three parties state that ‘experts in disciplines other than medicine play a key part in public health, at government, community and individual level, in addressing the health and inequality challenges of our times’. It is seen as ‘a matter of concern that their individual skills and knowledge of public health issues are neither fully appreciated nor systematically developed’
The Scottish Forum for Public Health Medicine
This Forum came into existence in 1990 as a result of an initiative by the then Chief Medical Officer, Kenneth Calman. It had 40 members and observers drawn from various public health interests, including Government, and its Secretariat was funded by the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust. It met four times a year and its one standing Committee comprised all Chief Administrative Medical Officers/Directors of Public Health in Scotland. Its activities centred initially on areas such as breast cancer screening, coronary heart disease and the purchaser/provider approach to service provision. Its aim was to develop public health issues; improve co-ordination and communication between the various components of the specialty of public health medicine and between the specialty and other public health agencies.
In 1992, funding was made available by the Chief Scientist Office to the Forum to develop the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme. In 1993, discussions began with other professional groups and organisations regarding their representation and a Dental Health Forum was established to foster improvements in dental and oral health.
Writing about the Forum in the Chief Medical Officer’s 1994 Report, Health in Scotland, Professor James McEwen (Immediate Past Convener), Professor Charles Florey (Convener) and Susie Stewart (Former Executive Secretary) considered that it had encouraged co-ordination and communication, secured the commitment of public health medicine specialists, produced reputable reports, and formed effective links with other professional groups, decision-makers and the media. It is beyond the competence of the present Review to discuss the reasons for the Forum’s demise but many consider that its ‘virtual’ nature as well as the core workplace pressures of all participants precluded long-term viability. It is important to point out that the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP) has survived as a valued function (see below).
The Office of Public Health in Scotland (OPHIS)
OPHIS took over from the defunct Scottish Public Health Forum as a means of providing a co-ordinated voice for NHS and academic public health. It holds a register of the expertise and special interests of public health doctors in Scotland and promotes collaboration between practitioners, both medical and non-medical. Funding is provided by the Scottish Executive Health Department through PHPU. OPHIS is intended to serve as:
An umbrella organisation for networks which can be consulted for advice and produce Health Needs Assessment reports on topics of national interest;
An open-access information facility that supports SNAP working groups and projects initiated by the Scottish Affairs Committee of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine;
A link between service and academic departments in Scotland (and in the UK), so creating a new focus on evidence-based practice and public health effectiveness;
A sounding board which can be used by Government and others in policy development.
Scottish Committee for Public Health Medicine and Community Health
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