Event details
FPH Annual Public Health Conference
8-9 November 2012
Heads up for Public Health: Inspiration, Integration & Innovation
Crieff Hydro Hotel
Titles are always tricky to choose ? they need a hook to catch the eye in a forest of options, yet coherent enough to encompass the range of interests to be attracted. This year?s conference has chosen ?Heads up for Public Health: Inspiration, Integration and Innovation?.
The term ?Heads up? has become a popular phrase. It can mean ?get me up to speed on an issue? or in the world of
communications to be alert for intense media interest. Also, some people felt the term implied ?holding your head high? or
?concentrate on what we are doing?. Like a good poetic line, it engenders a range of meanings that I hope inspires people to
come to the Faculty Conference.
The Faculty Conference is a gathering of the community of public health in Scotland in its widest sense, (and hopefully
supplemented by many others from beyond the border.) The conference provides the setting for the public health community
to share work and experiences and in that way give or receive inspiration for our professional development over the coming year.
The theme of integration is particularly topical. Within Scottish public health, two reports will be published where current
integrated arrangements around Boards will be challenged; the ?Health Protection Stocktake?, set up by Scottish Government
and the ?New Ways of Working? report produced by the Scottish Public Health Network. Their recommendations will no doubt
stimulate reflection on the current arrangements of public health delivery across the now accepted public health domains.
Within the wider public sector, integration of health and social care is the major issue confronting the organizations that underpin delivery of public health services. At the time of the conference, implementation health and social care integration will be in full swing and it will be timely to consider the implications for public health services in Scotland.
Public health functions in Scotland now look distinctly different from other parts of the UK as a consequence of their reorganizations. Public health services in Scotland have had a remarkably stable hbase within health boards both territorial and national. This stability is looked on enviously from elsewhere in the UK. However, while stability has its advantages, it can induce stasis. No system can stand still. The public health challenges from the health of the Scottish population remain daunting and there is a constant need to research and innovate new and effective ways of delivering public health interventions and programmes. An oft?used quote (taken from the Italian novel about political upheaval in the mid 19th century) ?if you want things to stay the same, then you must change?* has a resonance for the Scottish Public Health community. The conference thus offers an opportunity to have our heads up for innovation, alert to the changes of integration and hope we will be inspired to face the challenges of the coming year.
Edward Coyle Chair of Conference Steering Committee
* Guiseppe di Lampedusa. The Leopard.
For further details see the FPH (Scotland) website.