Public health: Professional Resources

Resources from the RCN

• An RCN toolkit for school nurses 

• The Best Start: The Future of Children’s Health – One Year on. Valuing school nurses and health visitors in England

• Female genital mutilation

• Genomics subject guide

• Immunisation knowledge and skills competence assessment tool

• Nurses 4 public health. The value and contribution of nursing to public health in the UK: Final report (2016) (PDF) looks at the value and contribution of nurses to public health in the UK.

• Public Health Nursing: a tool for reflective practice to support revalidation

• Public health CDP

• Public health subject guide

• Think CO - Gas Safety. A free online resource which has been developed by the Gas Safe Charity

• Supporting the delivery of immunisation (PDF)

Resources from Public Health England

All Our Health: personalised care and population health (2021). This is a constantly evolving resource for all healthcare professionals to help them to use their knowledge, skills and relationships, working with patients and the population to prevent illness, protect health and promote wellbeing. 

Better Health: Let's do this. Tools and resources to support adults to make simple changes for a longer and happier life. 

See: Five nations Chief Nurses joint statement. It is a call to action to healthcare professionals working with patients and the population to prevent illness, protect health and promote wellbeing. The call to action covers: childhood obesity and adult obesity.

Health inequalities: place-based approaches to reduce inequalities (2021) Guidance which aims to support local initiatives working across organisations and systems within communities to address health inequalities.

Health Matters: Combating high blood pressure. This resource outlines how providers and commissioners can reduce the population average blood pressure through improved prevention, detection and management.

Health Matters: public health issues (2020). Facts, resources and information on major public health challenges for public health professionals and local authorities.

Healthy Lives, Healthy People: public health workforce strategy (2014) (PDF) identifies the need to refine the Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (PHSKF), and to develop a new ‘skills passport’ to support the public health workforce in career development and planning. This report describes the work to date which has been across the UK.

Improving people’s health: applying behavioural and social sciences (2018). This resource provides a framework and tools to helps practitioners help people improve their health and adopt healthier behaviours. The tools provide an evidence to support better understanding of how people behave within their wider environment and the context in which they live.

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) (2020) practical resources from Public Health England. 

MECC e-learning programme - This resource is for anyone who has contact with people to “Make Every Contact Count” and develop public health knowledge.

Menu of Preventative Interventions (MoI) (2018). This resource outlines evidence-based, preventative public health interventions to support local planning.

Migrant health guide (2021). This guide provides information on all aspects of migrant health, including details on legal rights to access healthcare; guidance on explaining the NHS; information on conditions and diseases which may be more prevalent amongst migrant groups.

Moving Medicine. This resource from Public Health England and the Faculty of Sport & Exercise Medicine aims to help healthcare professionals integrate physical activity conversations into routine clinical care. See also: RCN. Physical activity, Motivate2move and Physical Activity Hub.

NHS England. Population Wellbeing Portal. A central location for e-learning to deliver improvements in public health, prevention and wellbeing.

Public health contribution of nurses and midwives: guidance (2018). Tools and models to support the development of the public health contribution of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.

Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (PHSKF) (2019) describes public health competences and the underpinning knowledge against levels of career development.

Other resources

ADPH Policy Positions. Association of Directors of Public Health UK. These statements bring together the views and recommendations of ADPH members on the following eight public health topics: Outdoor Air Quality, Housing, Alcohol, Tobacco, Drugs, Obesity, Sexual Health and Mental Health.

Good Mental Health For All: a public health approach to mental health improvement (2016). This report from the Faculty of Public Health makes the case for improving mental health for everyone and preventing mental health problems.

Impact pathways for everyday interactions. This report focusses on the public health impact of four of the key healthcare professions within the wider workforce: nurses and midwives, dentists, allied health professionals and pharmacists.

King's Fund (2018) A vision for population health: Towards a healthier future. This report outlines the King’s Fund’s vision for population health, why such a vision is needed and the steps required to achieve it.

Person-Centred Approaches (2017). Skills for Health, Health Education England and Skills for Care have announced a new Framework to support person-centred approaches for the health and social care workforce.

Royal College of General Practitioners. LGBT Health Hub. This collection of eLearning modules, podcasts and screencasts aims to inform and update all members of the general practice team on particularly important aspects of primary care for LGBT people. 

Stepping up to public health (2017). This report from the Royal College of Midwives includes information for midwives and women on the important public health contribution during pregnancy and the first weeks of life.