Public Health Practitioner

Job responsibilities

To work as part of the Public Health team to help realise the vision of Wiltshire Council to create stronger and more resilient communities and deliver on the key priorities of the team and those shared with partners. As a council, we know our mission is to ensure: The people of Wiltshire are empowered to live full, healthy and enriched lives.

Our communities continue to be beautiful and exciting places to live.

Our local economy thrives and is supported by a skilled workforce. We lead the way in how councils and counties mitigate the climate challenges ahead. The post holders will support the work of the Public Health Team, under the direction of Public Health Consultants, Principals and Specialists across the team, to deliver the operational priorities of this workstream. The post holder will contribute to the improvement and protection of the health and wellbeing of those living and working in the Wiltshire area, which includes a population of approximately 500,000. The post holder will be responsible for leading and delivering the operational direction in areas of designated responsibility and will provide a specialist public health approach with minimal supervision to reflect both national and local priorities with the emphasis on prevention and reducing health inequalities. The post holder will work within a complex and wide ranging multi-agency environment. Partnership working is key with other statutory, non-statutory and voluntary agencies and the post holder will need to embody strong communication and interpersonal skills. Specific duties and responsibilities include:

To provide public health practitioner advice, guidance and support to colleagues and volunteers to ensure whole team achievements are met.

To lead on communication of relevant public health information to the services key OS11-2268 Public Health Practitioner October 2022 Page 5 of 9 partners and commissioned services.

To represent the Public Health Team and the Council at agreed partnership events, partnership Boards, multi-agency working groups, professional groups and other for a; this may involve chairing and / or facilitating multi-agency working groups.

To support the work of existing partnerships (and develop new ones where appropriate in response to specific defined needs) and provide practitioner level public health advice to partners and other key stakeholders.

To develop and lead on marketing campaigns for public health services, utilizing opportunities to promote the service to key partners including Primary Care, Secondary Care, community and voluntary sector.

To be a source of knowledge and expertise in particular public health topic areas through resource production, project management, training, contributing to websites and disseminating information to partner organisations.

Contribute to writing topic related reports to inform Council, partner organisations and government bodies e.g., Cabinet, Department of Health, UK Health Security Agency, Integrated Care Boards etc. and contribute specialist topic information to annual public health reports, strategic documents and other reports as required.

To keep up to date with the evidence base of effective practice, in particular relating to specific public health topic areas and public health competencies. This will be gained through literature searches, critical appraisal of literature, conferences, networking, journal clubs, professional body communications etc.

To comply with professional body codes of conduct e.g., UK Public Health Register (UKPHR), Faculty of Public Health (FPH), Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), Health Professions Council etc. as appropriate.

The post holder will be prepared to support the wider public health team in the event of threats to health protection and emergencies that threaten public health.

The post holder will be able to identify, assess and mitigate against any risks associated with the projects and programmes within their remit.

Provide advice and guidance to senior managers on a broad range of challenging operational issues and propose remedial actions

Commissioning or develop training, workshops and presentations and / or roadshows to stakeholders and team members.

To work flexibly across the public health team to meet the demands of the service OS11-2268 Public Health Practitioner October 2022 Page 6 of 9.

To support the targeted intervention to high priority groups, for example pregnant women, people with mental health problems, young people, and minority groups.

Qualifications

Essential

• A first degree or qualification of equivalent academic ability or the ability to
• demonstrate equivalent skills and experience relevant to Public Health
• Experience of project management
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Experience working in the field of public health or related area
• Good working knowledge of different aspects of public health
• Understanding of local government, NHS, public, voluntary and community sector
• Experience of developing and delivering training, group and 121 programmes and
• / or community development programmes
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to write reports
• and deliver presentations to a wide range of audiences
• Excellent interpersonal skills and influencing skills with proven ability to build and
• maintain effective working relationships (internally and externally) and facilitate
• groups.
• To have the ability to innovate, providing creative resolutions to solving problems,
• proactively anticipate problems and deliver solutions which enhance the quality
• and efficiency of public health services and projects and uphold the reputation of
• the council
• Ability to analyse and interpret and evaluate information to inform effective
• decision making
• Excellent ICT skills including the use of Microsoft applications and any relevant
• specialist systems

Desirable

• To be registered or working towards registration at practitioner level with UKPHR
• Experience of working with health inclusion groups, for example pregnant women,
• OS11-2268 Public Health Practitioner October 2022 Page 7 of 9
• people with mental health problems, people with learning disabilities and children and
• young people
• Up to date knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance in relation to working with
• and the safeguarding of children/vulnerable adults
• Demonstrates an understanding of the key public health information relating to
• Wiltshire.
• Experience of working collaboratively with service providers and other setting to
• assess and manage risk and plan mitigating activity.
• Experience of building and developing effective stakeholder relationships
• Experience of commissioning or contract management
• Experience of working in community settings and with health care providers
• Knowledge or understanding of risk management and associated reporting
• Experience of supporting/assisting the development of training and/or education

Experience

Essential

• Relevant professional experience post qualification in a similar work environment.
• Expert knowledge of relevant policy, systems, work practices, professional guidelines, legislation in
• the area of specialism.
• Excellent ICT skills including use of Microsoft applications and specialist systems.
• Proven ability to provide advice and make recommendations based on specialist knowledge of
• specific area. Highlight and resolve potential risks.
• Knowledge and experience of contributing to the development of policies, procedures and practices.
• Familiar with wider sector / external influences.
• Detailed operational knowledge of systems in terms of functionality, capability and availability.
• Excellent interpersonal, persuasion, influencing and negotiating skills.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, with proven ability to prioritise and co-ordinate workloads,
• monitor and evaluate work, to ensure deadlines are achieved
• Proven ability to interpret and analyse statistical and numerical data, drawing conclusions from the
• data to make informed decisions.
• Proven ability to cope with conflicting and changing demands through good time management and the
• ability to work under pressure.
• Experience of co-ordinating projects with service / organisation impact
• Proven ability to produce business focussed, user friendly reports, policy and project documents
• where appropriate.