title: Building public health skills and capacity in the English regions.
abstract: Local public health departments have variable access to a public health intelligence function, and information skills are scarce. Public health observatories are supporting the development of professional standards for public health intelligence specialists and offer training opportunities for both defined public health specialists and generalist public health specialists. In addition observatories support public health practice through educational programmes in health impact assessment, health equity audit, public health intelligence, and the provision of toolkits and advice on methods. Observatories have a key role in supporting and developing networks, in particular public health analysts, and the use of interoperable websites is enhancing these opportunities.
authors.affiliation: South East Public Health Observatory, 4150 Chancellor Court, Oxford Business Park, Oxford OX4 2JY, UK. alison.hill@phru.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jenner
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Somervaille
mesh_terms: D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration; D011361:Professional Competence; D040442:Public Health Informatics / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D015980:Public Health Practice; D013192:Staff Development / Q000379:methods; D006113:United Kingdom