Calls for expansion of public health nursing workforce

The deputy chief public health nurse for England, Professor Jamie Waterall, called for the expansion of the SCPHN workforce, such as health visitors and school nurses, and for public health to be integrated into the core responsibilities of all nurses.

“There aren’t many other professions that have the reach and the competence and the impact that we can have”

Jamie Waterall

His comments came during a keynote speech at a School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA) conference, held in High Wycombe yesterday.

Professor Waterall set out some of the key public health challenges facing the UK, including the rise in non-communicable diseases, obesity, smoking and vaping and self-harm and suicide.

He argued that nurses were perfectly positioned to take on some of these challenges, and already were doing so.

“There’s no question in my mind as a nurse, [and] with fellow nursing colleagues in the room, that we are part of the solution to the problem that we’re currently facing,” he said.

“Nurses are everywhere. We’re in schools, we’re in people’s homes, we’re in the workplace, we’re in places of faith, we’re in places of conflict, we’re in the traditional health and care settings.

“There aren’t many other professions that have the reach and the competence and the impact that we can have, and that gives me hope that we can make a difference.”

While overall there are more people on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register than ever before, the number on the SCPHN section of it is declining, highlighted Professor Waterall.

He said: “We’ve got the lowest number of specialist community public health nurses on the register.

“This is the data I’m presenting to ministers, and discussing centrally, that we have to challenge this.

“If we’re going to respond to all the challenges we’ve seen, we need to rebuild our capacity and capabilities of the specialist community public health workforce.”

Professor Waterall welcomed the government’s commitment to publish a 10-year plan for the NHS and shared insights from discussions that were already taking place relating to public health.

The main call was that public health needed to be a priority for all nurses, not just the SCPHN workforce.

He said: “So the first pillar of work we’ve been looking at is, how do we maximize the public health impact of every nurse, every midwife, every nursing associate? And that would be critical.

“I think often it’s been seen as somebody else’s thing, [but] this needs to be a core incentive our entire profession.”

Meanwhile, Professor Waterall also called to “rebuild” the SCPHN workforce, and be inclusive of all those that work in the specialism.

“We need more of us and we need to grow and develop how we work,” he explained.

“But equally we need to not forget the wider specialist public health nursing workforce, those working in health protection roles, those working in occupational health, those working in health improvement roles.

“Meeting many of those colleagues, they don’t feel they’ve necessarily been heard or part of our wider family, and we need to make sure that we have a broader public health workforce approach.”

During his keynote speech, Professor Waterall also announced that the government had commissioned a new long-term workforce plan for the NHS.

The plan, due to be published in summer 2025, will replace the one that was published last year under the Conservatives.