New public health post for London

An innovative job to improve notifications of communicable gastrointestinal diseases in London has been created by the Association of London Environmental Health Managers and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health London.

The part-time post will be jointly funded by the London boroughs and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and will be based at the CIEH in London and at the South-West London Health Protection Unit in Tooting.

The post holder will be mentored by Alehm Trustee Tay Potier who is CIEH London policy officer, and report to a board comprising members of Alehm, CIEH and the HPA.

Steve Miller, Alehm chair, said a suitable candidate could be a student on an MSc or PG (Dip) environmental or public health course.

The successful applicant will work on projects identified by the HPA and London local authorities. In particular, they will review existing procedures and work towards producing a single set of standards for the investigation of gastrointestinal disease.

Mr. Miller said:

For a number of reasons, the amount of time spent on infectious diseases in environmental health departments has decreased in many boroughs in the past 10 years. ‘There are fewer targets in this area of work compared to others and this has led to varying approaches. The creation of consistent standards will have clear and obvious benefits. This is an exciting opportunity that will allow an individual to make a real contribution to public health. At the moment, it is a one-year contract, but we are confident that the post will continue into the future.

Interviews will be held in November and the job will begin in January. For more information and for an application form Contact: Kath Lewis, London student development officer. Tel: (020) 8777 8262. Email: kath [at] crowleydesign [dot] co [dot] uk

Job summary

• Examine methods for the surveillance of notifiable diseases
• Work on a single outbreak incident plan and standard operating procedures
• Develop training opportunities for joint working between Health Protection Units and environmental health departments
• Work with consultants on the assessment of communicable disease incidents and emerging public health issues
• Put in place peer review audits
• Provide monthly updates to a board