Welcome to this special

edition of pH1, intended to

bring you all the information you need to know to sign up to and get involved with Public Health Fu-tures, the 2010 Trainee Collo-quium (I love the word colloquium, but can‟t justify using it that often, so will revert to conference in the next paragraph!). This colloquium is being organised by Informing Healthier Choices which, as Penny Cole explains in her article, has been the pioneer-ing force for some key public health projects in the past couple of years. This conference is specifically de-signed for Public Health trainees and is intended to inform and in-spire, both from the work of the IHC and from our own work. With the backing of Sir Muir Gray and the Training Programme Directors, it now just remains for us to regis-ter for the conference, sign up for twitter alerts and get thinking caps on to come up with that killer slide that is going to leave the rest of us

speechless!

Of course, the real questions every-one wants to know the answer to are: who will the judges decide has the most innovative ideas and who has made the most impact on pub-lic health. Which Deanery has the trainees with the X Factor??

Contact details for the conference in the form of website, email ad-dresses and twitter account are provided throughout the newsletter. However, if you have any additional queries, please drop us a line at pH1mail@yahoo.co.uk. We will be back with our regular newsletter in January, so please get any articles for this edition to us by December 15th. Have a Fantas-tic Christmas, may your on calls be quiet, and we wish you a very healthy New Year!

V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 3 D E C E M B E R

pH 1…far from neutral

Who’s got the X Factor…? In this Issue...

Who’s got the X Fac-

tor? 1

What does the Future

Hold? 2

Getting with the

Programme 3-4

Weblinks 4

Public Health Futures

Twitter Updates 4

Public Health Futures

Conference 5-6

The Technical Bits:

Registering for the

Conference & Submit-

ting your Work 7

Key Conference Facts

8

Join the Team 8

Travelling Far? 8

If you have difficulty reading this newsletter format, a black and white version is also available.

Please e-mail ph1mail@yahoo.co.uk to request a plain format copy. Thanks.

What does the Future Hold?

The future is not a desti-

nation, like Mars waiting

for our arrival or discov-

ery. It is more like Regent‟s

Park, something that has to

be imagined, planned and

created. But how is this best

done? One approach is to

leave it to those already in

charge.

However, although their ex-

perience is useful, they are

also the people who have

created our present world

and there is much that is

wrong with it. Another ap-

proach is to leave it to the

planners… but the future

cannot be created by a bu-

reaucracy.

I have found two sources of

ideas very helpful in thinking

about the future:

The first is the writings of Karl

Popper, particularly „The Open

Society and its Enemies‟, in

which he argues convincingly

that no-one is clever enough

to be given the power to plan

the future. On the off chance

that there ever was such a

person, they would soon be-

come institutionalized if given

absolute power because they

would be cut off from all criti-

cism.

The second source is theories

on complex adaptive systems,

or solution creat-

ing systems.

These describe

how solutions

can be created

on the border

between chaos

and order.

Crowd sourcing,

getting the ob-

servations of

lots of people, is

part of this the-

ory. Equally im-

portant however

is the participa-

tion of people in

the creation of

solutions.

The IHC project has been

creating tools for the fu-

ture. Trainees are the peo-

ple of the future and the

colloquium allows us time

to examine how trainees

and these tools can best

be brought together to im-

prove the health of indi-

viduals and populations, in

addition to creating enjoy-

able work for public health

professionals!

P A G E 2

Muir Gray looks

into his crystal

ball and gives us

food for

thought ahead

of the Trainee

Colloquium...

P A G E 3

The programme has four over-

all aims:

1. Improved workforce capac-

ity and capability.

2. Improved data and the tools

to use it

3. Creation of stronger organi-

sations using intelligence ap-

propriately

4. Creating web-based support.

Many of the tools and products

have been commissioned from

APHO, and the IC is a key

partner in the delivery of Aim

4.

IHC supports World Class

Commissioning in a number of

ways. By the time the pro-

gramme is completed in March

2010, there will be a range of

accessible and straightforward

training for commissioners,

(Continued on next page…)

Getting with the Programme Penny Cole gets us up to speed with IHC

velopment. The modular ap-

proach used means courses are

useful not only for public health

intelligence professionals, but for

any organisation that needs to use

or generate useful health intelli-

gence.

It was important to involve or-

ganisations from across the sector

in running the programme, and

the IHC steering group has repre-

sentatives from DH, PCTs, the

Faculty of Public Health, Asso-

ciation of Public Health Observa-

tories (APHO) and the Informa-

tion Centre (IC).

You may not have heard of

Informing Healthier Choices

(IHC), but the chances are that

you have used one of its prod-

ucts. Amongst the programme’s

highlights are Health Profiles,

the APHO Disease Prevalence

Models, the National Library for

Public Health and the Health Im-

pact Assessment Gateway.

Established in 2007 to support

the Choosing Health initiative,

IHC set out to give fresh impetus

and invest resources in tools and

training for public health intelli-

gence. It has improved the career

structure for public health pro-

fessionals, with new standard-

ised job descriptions, person

specifications and suggested pay

grades that can be shared and

adapted by any employer.

It has produced an extensive

range of on-line training pack-

ages, to support professional de-

P A G E 4

(Continued from previous page...) supporting them to use intelligence more effectively.

Tools such as the Community Health Profiles and Disease Prevalence Models have already become part

of the backbone of evidence-based commissioning. And they are also being used to deliver crucial intelli-

gence for Joint Strategic Needs Assessments.

To ensure that all the public services are doing their bit to improve the health of communities and address

health inequalities, IHC has delivered a new methodology for Health Impact Assessment. Policymakers

and analysts in any field can use it to test the impact their policies will have on the health of communities

or populations.

At www.informinghealthierchoices.net you can access all the products the programme has delivered, but

the IHC team wants to ensure trainees fully share in the programme’s outcomes.

That’s why IHC’s final activity is the trainee conference planned for February 23rd 2010, where all the

outcomes, products, tools etc. will be presented. Trainees too will have an opportunity to ‘show and tell’

about their own initiatives and activities. They will also get first look at the new Public Health Portal

which is being developed by the NHS IC as part of the IHC programme.

Get PH Futures Updates on Twitter! Keep up to date with the thoughts of the PH Futures team by signing up to follow their tweets. Add your

own tweets and get the debate going before February 23rd!

If you already tweet, visit http://twitter.com/phfutures and follow. Add your thoughts or anything else re-

lated to public health futures by adding #phf to a tweet.

If this is your first twitter experience, visit www.twitter.com and see what all the fuss is about (and yes,

PH futures is following Stephen Fry!).

And if using Twitter seems one tweet too far, all announcements will also be available on

www.phfutures.org.

www.healthprofiles.org.uk for the health profiles

www.hiagateway.org.uk for everything you need to know about Health Impact Assessment

www.healthknowledge.org.uk for all the training

www.apho.org.uk and click ‘Resources’ for the Public Health Skills and Career Framework Guidance, Job and

Person Specifications.

www.apho.org.uk and click ‘Tools” for Disease Prevalence Models

www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth for the National Library of Public Health

WEBLinks:

P A G E 4

P A G E 5

EUREKA!

1. “Killer Slides”

Trainees are invited to submit a slide which has acted as a call to action in the arena of

Public Health. (For inspiration, consider the highly publicised “Jubilee Line” image, page 6.)

The work this slide represents must have been undertaken within the last 2 calendar years

in the UK. To allow the judges to understand your thinking and process behind the slide, you

will need to submit a short report addressing each of the 4 judging criteria (below), using

not more than 200 words to respond to each criteria (for how to submit both the killer slide

and the accompanying short report, see “The Technical Bit” article, page 7).

Eligibility: The work must have been undertaken within the last 2 calendar years within the

UK (i.e. From 1 January 2008).

Judging criteria: The judges will be seeking a slide which best meets the following criteria:

1. Presents a clear, focused message that is easy to understand.

2. Pleasing to the eye!

3. Has clear potential to help a decision be made (or has realised that potential).

4. Demonstrates one or more of the 10 public health competencies (see

www.fphm.org.uk/training/curriculum/what_you_learn/ph_competencies.asp).

Closing date for submission: 15 January 2010.

(Continued on next page...)

Have you had a brilliant public health idea in the past couple of years?

Dying to share it with fellow public health enthusiasts? The Public Health Futures Confer-

ence is the place where your voice can be heard! Your work will be appraised by an experi-

enced panel of public health specialists and the most innovative/interesting/inspiring sub-

missions will be asked to present on the day. Outstanding submissions will be presented

with signed copies of Bad Science by Ben Goldacre and book tokens (not necessarily ear-

marked for more Ben Goldacre publications!). There are 2 options as to how you present

your submissions. Dr Gillian Schiller explains the brief in detail.

Get your hard work in the Public Health arena noticed at the Public Health Futures Conference

P A G E 5

P A G E 6

2. Projects using Health Intelligence

Have you used health intelligence to leverage a decision about a policy direction, a service de-

velopment, a partnership activity or other change? The work can be from any part of public

health, and may encompass areas such as communication of public health issues or use of tools

and techniques in creative ways. The panel are looking for trainees who have taken an innova-

tive approach to their chosen issue, and will be as pleased to receive submissions from those

approaches which did not have the desired impact as from those which were outstanding suc-

cesses.

For this format, you will need to submit a summary of the project, along with a short report

addressing each of the 4 judging criteria (below), using not more than 200 words to respond to

each criteria (for how to submit these documents, see “The Technical Bit” article on page 7).

Eligibility: The work must have been undertaken within the last 2 calendar years within the UK

(i.e. From 1 January 2008).

Selection criteria: Work will be chosen that best demonstrates:

1. A topic area likely to be important in the coming years.

2. A clear reason for choosing the approach taken. There will be particular focus on

innovative use of techniques or tools.

3. A clear description of the outcome and its impact (or reasons for lack of success and

impact if appropriate).

4. Learning points from the project.

Closing date for submission: 15 January 2010.

(Continued from previous page...)

P A G E 6

Uploading your Work to the Conference Website:

Work for both the killer slide and the health intelligence brief will be submitted in the form of a single powerpoint presentation. For killer slides: please upload a presentation consisting of your killer slide followed by one slide ad-dressing each of the 4 judging criteria (1 presentation, 5 slides in total).

For health intelligence work: please upload a presentation consisting of your summary slides first

(maximum of 2) followed by one slide addressing each of the judging criteria (1 presentation, maximum of

6 slides).

If you have a Slideshare account: 1. Upload your presentation to Slideshare. Add information about the presentation, including #phf in the tag field. 2. Go to http://www.slideshare.net/event/public-health-futures/join. 3. Return to your presentation, click on More… and add your presentation to the Public Health Futures Event (Figure 1).

If you don’t have a slideshare account: 1. Make sure your slide includes your Name and email address 2. Send your slide as an e-mail attachment to child23earth@upload.slideshare.net and (importantly) cc

ben.toth@gmail.com. That will enable us to add your presentation to the event and let you know how to

view it.

Signing up for the Public Health Futures Conference

Public Health Futures have a dedicated website: http://www.phfutures.org. You will need to register on this website to secure your place. Tickets are free but places are limited. After registering you will receive a confirmation e-mail with a ticket attached, which you should bring on the day. You will also be able to see a location map and add the conference to your calendar. There is also a page on the website that allows you to post your thoughts on the upcoming conference and as work is uploaded (see below), you

will be able to visit the site and look at people‟s “killer slides”.

The Technical Bits... Ben Toth, IHC’s resident technical guru, tells us how to sign up and

submit our work for the conference

Figure 1. Adding a

Presentation to an

Event

P A G E 8

And finally... Key Conference Facts

Date: 23rd February 2010

Time: 10:00 – 16:30

Invitees: Public Health Trainees

Public Health Dental Trainees Public Health Analyst Trainees Public Health Academic Associates Training Programme Directors

Informing Healthier Choices Team

Register your place at: www.phfutures.org

Sign up for the Evening Reception (22nd February 2010) at: http://phfeveningreception.eventbrite.com/

Sign up for the National Trainee Website Team: Email: ben.toth@gmail.com

Deadline for submitting work: 15th January 2010 (see page 7 for instructions)

Conference Content: Workshops led by Informing Healthier Choices Team

Trainee presentations & discussions of killer slides & health intelligence projects

Keynote Speakers: Sir Liam Donaldson & Professor Sir Michael Marmot

Travelling Far?

Much as London might aspire to be the centre of the universe, most of us will still have to travel some way to get to the King‟s Fund on February 23rd. If you would prefer to travel down the night before, Muir Gray and the IHC team have arranged a reception at the King‟s Fund on the evening of February 22nd to catch up with fellow trainees from other Deaneries. Places are limited due to the size of the room, but if you are not travelling far and would like the opportunity to join us, we will see how many we can squeeze in! To reserve your place at the evening reception, please

register at http://phfeveningreception.eventbrite.com/.

National Public Health Trainee Website: Join the Team! Following the Public Health Futures conference in February 2010, www.phfutures.org will be-come a National website for Public Health Trainees. If you would like to be part of the

website team that leads in the development of this resource, please email Ben Toth at ben.toth@gmail.com. Ben is the IHC IT guru and will be leading a session on website devel-opment at the February conference for every-one who expresses an interest in being part of the team.

P A G E 8

If you have difficulty reading this newsletter format, a black and white version is also available.

Please e-mail ph1mail@yahoo.co.uk to request a plain format copy. Thanks.