Public Health Workforce Week 2022
The first annual Public Health Workforce Week was held by RSPH from 3 October to 7 October 2022.
Public Health Workforce Week celebrates the contribution of the entire public health workforce. Despite facing unparalleled challenges, members of the public health workforce, who range from addiction support officers and food safety trainers to community health champions and school nurses, have continued to deliver. We want to hear from you about the challenges and solutions that you see as people working in public health.
The public health workforce needs better support for their work in assisting the public with their health and wellbeing.
Why is Public Health Workforce Week important?
We want to celebrate and raise awareness of the crucial work of the public health workforce, their incredible achievements, and tireless contribution to public health and wellbeing. Through challenging circumstances, the public health workforce has continued to deliver over and above.
We also know that the public health workforce faces unparalleled challenges. Many are burnt-out and over-stretched and this is impacting on both their wellbeing and ability to deliver services. The public health system was under extreme pressure pre-pandemic, and COVID-19 has added additional stress.
The pandemic demonstrated to us all that the people who deliver public health are key to developing a wide range of prevention and intervention services which benefit us all. They understand the communities they work with and the health inequalities those communities face. They also have an in-depth knowledge of what they need as a workforce to ensure they are supported and can develop and deliver a range of effective public health services.
We asked our members in the public health workforce about the challenges they are facing. Whilst our members shared their concerns, they also suggested solutions that would support the workforce.
51%
said stress is causing them to consider leaving their jobs
43%
have a lack of work life balance
42%
are experiencing burn-out
Public Health Workforce Week - Schedule and how to get involved
Monday 3 October
Check out our social media and share our tweet and call to celebrate and support the public health workforce.
Tuesday 4 October
We are holding a policy breakfast with key representatives from the public health workforce to discuss the challenges and identify solutions for supporting the public health workforce.
Wednesday 5 October 8pm-9pm
Join our #PublicHealthWorkforceWeek Twitter chat with RSPH Chief Executive, William Roberts and our Policy team
Join in to discuss the issues facing the public health workforce and solutions for change. We want to hear from members of the workforce, representatives from key organisations and anyone affected by the important work of the public health workforce.
We welcome you to share your questions on Twitter ahead of time with the hashtag #PublicHealthWorkforceWeek.
Join us on Twitter on Wednesday 5 October between 8pm-9pm with the hashtag #PublicHealthWorkforceWeek to join in the discussion.
Are you part of the public health workforce? Share your voice
We want to amplify the voice of the of the public health workforce, celebrate your efforts, raise awareness of the challenges you face and call for better support. If you are happy for your answers to be featured anonymously in our campaign work, we’d love you to answer our questions below:
Are you part of the public health workforce and would like to become an RSPH member?
Our membership benefits include access to peer-reviewed journals, online courses and events. As part of the celebration of the amazing work the public health workforce delivers, we are offering to waive the joining fee for all members of the public health workforce who join us during Public Health Workforce Week. Use code PHWORK22 when applying.