Am I eligible to apply?
Public health person specification
To be eligble to apply you must meet all the 'essential', and most of the 'desirable' criteria in the ST1 public health person specification [pdf].
What general skills do I need to apply?
- An understanding of, and commitment to, public health and its application
- Good verbal and written communication skills – the ability to listen, present, facilitate and negotiate effectively, and to adapt language usage appropriately to the setting
- Good team working and leadership skills – working in multidisciplinary, non-hierarchical structures and in a collaborative manner
- A broad, strategic outlook and vision, and the ability to manage change
- Research and critical appraisal skills, with a good understanding of epidemiology and statistics
- Self-reliance and self-motivation
- The ability to prioritise, plan and work on your own initiative
- A desire to keep learning
- Good IT skills
Further entry requirements
For doctors:
- Full GMC registration.
- Completion of a Foundation Year 2 programme, or the equivilent competencies. (For those who are not applying from Foundation programmes, it has been agreed during transition to MMC that 12 months in educationally approved SHO posts can be considered equivalent to completing Foundation Year 2.)
- Entrants with a longer period of clinical or other postgraduate experience are welcome.
For those from other backgrounds:*
- Either a good first degree (minimum 2:1) in a subject relevant to public health, or a higher degree (i.e. Masters or PhD). Relevant degrees could include any of the health sciences, such as clinical psychology and pharmacology, or other subject areas where the relevance can be shown – e.g. environmental science or a health professional qualification e.g. nursing.
- At least 36 months’ post-degree work experience in an area relevant to public health.
- Entrants with a longer period of postgraduate experience are welcome.
- Experience of the management of healthcare services, or work that has provided insight into the challenges of accessing health services would be beneficial.
* If you are applying as a medical candidate you will have followed the Foundation Programme curriculum (or equivalent). Other graduate/professional applicants are expected to be able prove that they have the equivalent competence at this level. You should refer to the Foundation Programme curriculum to identify detailed competence expected of a medical applicant. Clearly clinical competence is not expected and basic clinical skills required for public health training (such as history taking and medical microbiology) will be incorporated into the run through training programme.
If you are eligible then please see our guidance for 2008 applications.