Joint appointment plans for public health posts

The government is to support the development of joint
appointments between health authorities and local government to
deliver improvements to public health, the Department of Health
revealed last week.

The department has commissioned a study which will provide
different working models for joint directors of public health for
use by councils and health authorities, in response to criticism
from the House of Commons health select committee.

“We are not convinced that the DoH has been sufficiently
proactive in helping this come about,” the committee’s report
said.

In its response, the government argues that joint working
already exists even where joint appointments have not been
made.

It describes co-terminosity between councils and health
authorities as “a key driver for joint working and partnerships”
and, as a result, wants to ensure that the boundaries of the new
strategic health authorities – to be set up next April – do not cut
across local authority boundaries.

The government is also considering ways of “aligning” councils’
Community Strategies with health authorities’ Health Improvement
Plans.

Government Response to the Select Committee on Health’s Second
Report on Public Health at www.doh.gov.uk/phreport2.htm

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