RSPH welcomes the decision by the Department of Health to postpone moves to further regulate Public Health specialists, as we are satisfied with the current arrangements. As RSPH made clear in our response to the DH consultation on Public Health Regulation (November 2014) we feel that UKPHR is well placed to continue as regulator for public health specialists, alongside the regulation of public health practitioners. 

We believe that increasing the burden of regulation for Public Health specialists would be an unhelpful distraction at a time when there are many more pressing issues to focus on, both in terms of public health delivery in the face of dwindling local authority budgets and in relation to public health workforce development. 

Further work establishing the role of the wider public health workforce is an area we believe needs immediate attention as we strive to improve the public’s health and develop the capacity and capability of the public health workforce.