pH1

A Newsletter for Public

Health Trainees

Far From Neutral

Widening Horizons through

Communication of Ideas and Aspirations

Rebecca Cooper and Gracia Fellmeth – ph1mail@yahoo.co.uk

pH1Clear Focused Message

• pH1 is a bimonthly newsletter that was developed to enable Public Health trainees within the UK and oversees to communicate with each other

• It is written by Public Health trainees for Public Health trainees and is independent of any associative body

• It encourages Public Health trainees to improve communication with colleagues and provides a focus around which to unite the community of trainees

• It allows opinions to be aired on subjects such as:5. Equality issues (the medic/non-medic split) in the training scheme6. Department of Health strategy and how it relates to our future career

choices7. Reviews of training placements – the good and the bad8. Alternative careers, such as international placements• The newsletter aims to give a cross section of life as a Public Health

trainee, which gives due license for a large slice of humour, not least from the resident Agony Aunts, Edwina and Joan (pictured!)

pH1Pleasing to the Eye

• pH1 prides itself in living up to its tag line of being “far from neutral” by avoiding neutral tones in the presentation of its articles.

• However, as pleasing to the eye is acknowledged to be a subjective matter, there have been a minority of our readers who have expressed the opinion that the jazzy style is not overly pleasing and somewhat detracts from the subject of the articles

• With this in mind, the next issue of pH1 will revisit its far from neutral theme and look to express this in ways other than simply the colour scheme!

pH1Helping Decisions to be Made

• pH1 began in September 2009 and has already been heavily involved in the campaign to promote the PH Futures conference (special edition, December 2009, can be viewed on the PH Futures website)

• Articles in editions to date have presented choices that are available for Public Health trainees in terms of training placements and extra curricular activities

• Future editions include issues that need to be addressed with specific decisions:

4. March Edition – Equality of pay in the training scheme

5. May Edition – General Election Special Issue. How do the Parties stack up with their Public Health Promises – will it influence if and how you vote?

pH1Public Health Competencies

demonstrated by project

• Lead teams and individuals, build alliances, develop capacity and capability, work in partnership with other practitioners and agencies and effectively use the media to improve health and wellbeing.

• Communication, Communication, Communication!