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Public Health Pract (Oxf)
Public Health Pract (Oxf)
Public Health in Practice
2666-5352
Elsevier

S2666-5352(24)00084-3
10.1016/j.puhip.2024.100547
100547
Editorial
To improve the health of the nation we need a wealth of people doing public health
Starkey Indigo istarkey@rsph.org.uk
⁎
Royal Society for Public Health, London, UK
Satherley Philip
Royal Society for Public Health, London, UK
Ford John
Wolfson Institute for Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS, London, UK
Black Michelle
Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems, Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
⁎ Corresponding author. istarkey@rsph.org.uk
23 8 2024
12 2024
23 8 2024
8 100547© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health.
2024

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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pmcIt is critical to have in place a public health workforce with the appropriate skills, knowledge, values, and competencies at every level to help shape healthier populations, tackle rising health inequalities, reduce pressures on health services and support the economy [1]. In the UK, this workforce is vast and encompasses specialists in public health, but also many occupations not traditionally thought of as ‘public health’, even though it is an important part of their role. This second group is commonly called the wider public health workforce and they are increasingly seen as key to delivering public health at scale.

The ‘active’ wider public health workforce in the UK is estimated at between 750,000 and 1.5 million people – a similar size to the entire NHS England workforce. As a comparison, the core and specialist workforce are about 37,500 in total [2]. The wider workforce therefore represents a huge and untapped reserve of capacity and capability to improve health and wellbeing.

Many in the wider public health workforce are already doing public health as part of their wider roles, for example they work in town planning, emergency services or the cleaning and hygiene industry. In a 2023 survey of the wider workforce 70 % said that public health had become a more important part of their role over the last three years, 65 % consider the impact of public health when making decisions at least twice a week and 55 % promote healthy living [3]. The people who make up this workforce sit across many occupations, and the majority want to stay within these. With around a third of respondents saying they engage with people facing inequalities, they are very well placed to understand and support the communities they work with.

The wider workforce want recognition for their contribution to public health, together with education, training and accessible and sustainable routes into formal public health training, alongside a healthy workplace culture. The wider workforce provides an opportunity to embed public health into areas that might not be specifically focussed on improving health and wellbeing. For example, cleaning and hygiene operatives have an important role in infection control and health protection and as an industry are keen to contribute more, and across different settings. Planners carry out health impact assessments to consider the public health implications of building developments and engineers have important roles in health and safety. Public health can be taken further across many settings, as evidenced by the key role they played during the pandemic.

Given the impact this workforce can have, it is important that we consider more formally supporting their development and contribution through an inclusive UK-wide public health workforce strategy. To effectively upskill the workforce, we also need to consider how the needs of this workforce may change in the face of challenges such as shifting demographics, growing inequalities and climate change. The workforce has also made it clear that education and training is critical, and that exploring options like peer coaching and accessible and sustainable routes into the workforce would be beneficial to provide career opportunities for those committed to developing public health knowledge. Alongside this it is vital to consider workplace culture and the health and wellbeing of the workforce, who work tirelessly and often in challenging circumstances. The wider public health workforce continues to make impactful contributions to our health, and it is now our turn to support them.
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References

1 Royal Society for Public Health THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS UNLOCKING the POTENTIAL of the WIDER PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE Briefing 2024 Royal Society for Public Health [Internet] Available from: https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/policy/wider-public-health-workforce/unusual-suspects-unlocking-potential-wider-public-health-workforce-report.html
2 Royal Society for Public Health How Big Is the Wider Public Health Workforce? 2024 Royal Society for Public Health [Internet] Available from: https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/wider-public-health-workforce-who-what-how-many.html
3 Roberts W. Satherley P. Starkey I. The Unusual Suspects: Unlocking the Potential of the Wider Public Health Workforce 2024 Mar Royal Society for Public Health [Internet] Available from: https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/policy/wider-public-health-workforce/unusual-suspects-unlocking-potential-wider-public-health-workforce-report.html (this is a snapshot survey of a wide range of occupations which makes up the wider workforce)
