The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) – formerly the Faculty of Community Medicine and then the Faculty of Public Health Medicine – was formed in 1972 as a result of a key recommendation of the Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965-68). It was set up as a joint, autonomous faculty by the three Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK.
What we do
The FPH is the standard setting body for public health specialists within the UK, setting standards for training, examination, and specialist practice across the four countries of the UK, in line with the Faculty's Standing Orders. It is also a source of knowledge and guidance around public health and advocates for public health nationally and globally.
As the professional membership body for public health, it works to promote and protect human health and its wider determinants for everyone in society by “playing a leading role in assuring an effective public health workforce, promoting public health knowledge, and advocating for the reduction of inequalities and for the very best conditions for health and well-being to flourish.”
On a five-decade journey to improve the public’s health and wellbeing
In 1968 the Royal Commission on Medical Education published a landmark report which recommended the creation of an organisation to assume ‘a major role in the training of those who practise in the field of community medicine’. This organisation would seek to ‘represent the medical specialties of public health, medical administration and social and preventive medicine’ and thus would unite a heterogenous group of professionals. To this end, an interprofessional working group was formed comprising key stakeholders from the ‘Society of Medical Officers of Health’, ‘Society for Social Medicine’, ‘Senior Administrative Medical Officers’, ‘Scottish Association of Medical Administrators’, ‘Scottish Branch of Society of Medical Officers of Health’, ‘Department of Health and Social Security’ and ‘Scottish Home and Health Department’.
Following many months of deliberation, the working group recommended the creation of the ‘Faculty of Community Medicine’.
Walter Holland, member of the first Board of the Faculty and a distinguished scholar, in his personal account of the creation of the FPH notes that, “looking back on the foundations of the Faculty, it is important to be aware that Public Health, after its 19th century achievements, has always had difficulties in establishing its role and esteem. The dramatic advances in treatment first of infective conditions and later of chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease have always, in the public mind, overshadowed the far more effective public health measures such as vaccination, or the identification of hazards of smoking and its prevention, lack of exercise and diet in the control of disease.”
At the inaugural meeting of the Faculty of Community Medicine on 15 March 1972, Lord Rosenheim opened the meeting by noting that “this is a historic occasion” and quoted from the Standing Orders that “Community Medicine is that branch of medicine which deals with populations or groups rather than individual patients”, and thus, it “brings together within one discipline those who are presently engaged in the practice of public health, in the administration of the health services whether in hospital, local authority or central government, in relevant research and those responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate education in the University Departments of Social medicine.”
In 1988, the ‘Committee of the Inquiry into the Future Development of the Public Health Function’ published a pivotal report which would result in a further identity shift for the specialty. Crucially, the report clarified the core roles of the specialty and recommended the reclamation of the title ‘public health’, with the specialty being referred to as ‘public health medicine’ and practitioners being called ‘public health physicians’ or ‘consultants in public health medicine’. In 1989, in line with these recommendations and following consultation with its members, the Faculty officially changed its name to the ‘Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom’.
It was not until 2001, following further consultation with members, that non-medical public health specialists could finally be admitted to the Faculty in the same way as those with medical backgrounds. Shortly thereafter, the decision was made to enable non-medical members to proceed to fellowship of the Faculty. It is as a result of these key changes, that the Faculty officially changed its name to the Faculty of Public Health in 2003.
Looking ahead
The Faculty has played a key role in shaping and training public health practitioners over the past 50 years and in doing so has fostered a diverse public health workforce equipped with the necessary skills to adapt to a rapidly changing public health landscape. As we emerge from the pandemic, public health practitioners will continue to uphold the mantra that ‘prevention is better than cure’ and, through application of expertise and proactive intervention working in partnership with communities, strive to improve the health and quality of life of our populations. Accordingly, the FPH will continue to shape the UK public health workforce, support the education and professional development of practitioners and advocate for action on critical public health issues.
Acknowledgements
FPH acknowledges Samuel P Trethewey, Academic Clinical Fellow in Public Health at the University of Exeter for his work on the History of the Faculty of Public Health.
