Lindsey Davies: Q&A - Royal College of Physicians

Lindsey Davies: Q&A
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Lindsey
Davies
Commentary speaks to Faculty of Public Health president, Lindsey Davies
‘If you want to take staff, professionals and the public with you in any programme
of change you have to paint a compelling vision. The problem at the moment is that
nationally the picture is not very clear. People don’t feel that they are behind a clear vision’
The white paper Healthy lives, healthy
people: our strategy for public health in
England outlines a new vision for public
health, but will it tackle the big challenges
Commentary speaks to Professor Lindsey
Davies, president of the Faculty of Public
Health. Appointed president in July 2010,
Lindsey was the former Department of
Health (DH) national director of pandemic
influenza preparedness, regional director
of public health for the east midlands,
interim regional director of public health for
London and health adviser to the Greater
London Authority.
QWhat are the challenges to public
health doctors arising from the
NHS reforms
APublic health is a multi-disciplinary
specialty, thus some people who
work at consultant level in public health
are doctors and some are not. But the
issues are the same for all. From the
public health point of view there are
huge challenges for consultants and for
directors of public health (DPH), because
the main organisations who employ
them – the strategic health authorities
(SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) –
are disappearing. They are trying to keep
their mind on the day job while working
out how to cope with huge cuts to their
organisation. If plans go through these
organisations will soon disappear. So that is
the big challenge – to stay focused on the
people who need their support and help.
At the same time, the plan is that DPHs
are moved to local authorities and that
they have a team to support them. They
will have a ring-fenced budget for public
health and Public Health England will be
set up as a new national organisation to
support local authorities and the NHS – we
hope. However, if you read the white paper
it is not at all clear who will be employing
DPHs or how many there will be or where
DPHs will be positioned within local
authorities. It is also not clear how people,
like DPHs and their teams, will continue to
do the health service work at the moment
within PCTs, influencing the health service
and making sure that services are equitable,
appropriate and cost effective.
So taking all those things together, the
challenges are: where are we going to be
and what are our jobs going to look like
Can we really be sure that we are going
to be able to deliver the three domains of
public health across the whole population:
protecting people’s health, encouraging
healthy lifestyles, and ensuring that people
have access to the services they need
www.rcplondon.ac.uk n June 2011 n Commentary 11