Professor Lisa Ackerley, independent food safety consultant and RSPH Trustee, reflects on the challenges of being an Environmental Health Officer and how RSPH membership can help.
I recently spoke on behalf of RSPH at the Food Safety Update and the Future of Enforcement afternoon event at the Birmingham offices of Irwin Mitchell. Sponsored by Irwin Mitchell and Addmaster, the event brought together a network of Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and food safety professionals to discuss their development needs, with all EHOs in attendance receiving CPD points.
The event caused me to reflect on my time as a young EHO, and the struggle I had to seek out opportunities to collect CPD to enhance my knowledge and skills. This is particularly troublesome for colleagues who live in beautiful but remote parts of the UK, or who can’t travel for other reasons such as the sheer expense! With this in mind, I am excited to share with you that RSPH are offering a range of opportunities for EHOs to earn CPD points this year.
RSPH understands that health and wellbeing is influenced by the wider physical environment and recognises the broad scope of the role of an EHO, which requires a breadth of knowledge and skills to make a real difference to the public’s health and wellbeing.
As an established voice in public health, RSPH has a reputation for delivering a high quality, topical conferences and webinar programmes each year. Upcoming events include a series of free food, water and behaviour change webinars, as well as a food safety conference on 5 July 2018 in its prestigious Portland Place venue in London. EHOs can earn one CPD per webinar, and five CPD points for conference attendance. With five webinars scheduled so far this year, plus the conference, this would cover at least a third of the 30 CPD points required to maintain Chartered Status.
If you miss the webinars on the day, and have RSPH membership (from Associate upwards) then you can still access these valuable sources of information and CPD.
RSPH membership has four main grades, each with its own set of eligibility criteria and benefits to ensure that there is the ideal one for your needs as you progress on your career path in public health. To further support EHO development, RSPH is waiving the joining fee for Associate membership for the whole of February 2018, representing a saving of £35. To take up this great offer, simply quote the discount code NOJOINFEEFEB18 when prompted on the online form.
Once your registration is complete, don’t forget to join one of the Special Interest Groups. These groups bring together professionals from across the country to share best practice around Arts and Health, Water, Behaviour Change, and Food.
