FPH membership survey
FPH last ran a membership survey in 2019; a survey was due to be shared with members in 2021 but was delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This latest survey was open to members to complete between 1 December 2023 and 31 January 2024. There were 722 member responses (14.4% response rate). This is broadly similar to previous years but, given this relatively low response rate, only tentative conclusions can be drawn because it is not possible with reasonable certainty to know if responders are typical of the whole eligible population surveyed.
The questions asked in the survey were matched as closely as possible to the questions posed in the last version in 2019 in order to draw comparisons. In this version, there were also questions relating to the new CPD policy and online diary and relating to the health and wellbeing of the FPH members.
The key findings from the survey were:
- The Faculty’s roles in the wider public health profession and system were seen as important and valuable; scoring particularly highly were the FPH roles in:
- Training standards;
- Public health recruitment standards; and
- Scoring slightly less highly were:
- Policy and advocacy; and
- Special Interest Groups.
A slightly more nuanced picture emerged when members were asked to consider the importance of the Faculty’s different roles in their own career. When asked what the Faculty could do better, the two key findings were advocacy/policy and engagement with members. The Faculty’s new CPD policy and online diary were viewed as overwhelmingly positive by FPH members.
A new set of questions sought members’ views on their health and wellbeing, particularly in light of the pandemic; this data will inform the wellbeing work being undertaken as one of the Board-led priority areas for 2024-25.
A number of members offered their support to work with the Faculty, and hundreds of members already do this through their work committees, exams, special interest groups and maintenance of standards in public health recruitment.
Further analysis has been undertaken to look at specific demographic groups (e.g. specialty registrars) and specific issues such as climate and sustainability.
For further information please contact registrar@fph.org.uk.
