Special Study in Public Health Practice: University of Westminster

Introduction

Public health is a major priority for policy makers and there are many potential challenges on the horizon for which you and your organisation need to be prepared. This course builds skills in key areas of public heath including understanding and using data, evidence-based practice, working collaboratively and facilitative leadership.

A 'training needs analysis' allows you to identify your skills gaps and tailor the course accordingly. Developed and delivered by a high quality course team of national and local public health, education and practice experts, the course supports participants in carrying out small public health projects linked to current organisational priorities. It is unique in the UK as a practice-oriented course bringing practitioners from local authority and NHS partners in public health back together again.

Applications are invited from a wide range of field-level public health practitioners, for example environmental health practitioners, health visitors, midwives, school nurses, dieticians, nutritionists, community nurses and community pharmacists.

Course content

Specific topics will include:

• Determinants of health
• Understanding and using data to assess health needs
• Teamwork
• Changing behavior
• Helping communities to help themselves
• Working collaboratively
• Evidencebased practice
• Leadership
• Protecting the
• Public’s health

Teaching and Assessment

The course is built around enabling participants to carry out a collaborative, work-based project. Part 1 of the course will be introduced by a half-day briefing for participants, and their managers and workplace mentors, followed by six taught days, fortnightly from January to March. Each day will have two interactive workshops comprising a dynamic mix of short lectures combined with structured individual and small group work, linking the topic input to the skills identified by ‘Skills for Health’. Two of the workshops will be designed by course members, to allow for emerging learning needs to be addressed.

In Part 2, participants will plan, deliver and evaluate a small work-based project, supported in the workplace by a mentor and manager and by attendance at seven half-day learning sets at the University.

The course teaching team comprises a course facilitator and practitioners with a commitment to this special course, and staff of the School of Integrated Health. Additional visiting contributors to workshops are practitioners with recent direct experience of frontline public health.

The final course assessment is based on a single piece of course work: students will be asked to write a portfolio of approximately 6,000 words in which they describe and analyse a public health project from their own work setting.

Associated Careers

This course will assist practitioners in progressing through the career framework suggested in ‘Skills for Health’.

Entry Requirements

Applicants for the course should be currently employed as field level practitioners with public health elements to their job role and intending to remain in employment for the duration of the course (though not necessarily with the same employer) in order to be able to carry out the work-based project work. Specific staff research interests in this area include: ‘Community politics’ and new social movements; black and ethnic self-organisation in the UK and Diaspora; indigenous knowledge(s) and their impact on notions of equality, localism and the curriculum.

Candidates will be required to provide evidence that their application is supported by their employer. They should be qualified and have been practising their profession for at least one full year.

An Honours degree or evidence of ability to study at postgraduate level is required. Applicants without a degree will be asked to submit a piece of written work which will be assessed.

Fluency in written and spoken English is a prerequisite for the course. Applicants who have not been taught in English during their secondary or tertiary education are required to achieve an overall minimum IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent.