Rethinking public health: new training for new times

The new public health agenda will require major changes in the way health authorities, local authorities, Trusts and Primary Care Groups organise and manage their activities. The requirement is for inter-agency co-ordination and inter-professional and inter-sectoral working to a shared agenda, yet the human and resources development planning to achieve these goals has not been done. This paper summarises the key training issues and argues for a collaborative, decentralised and quality assured approach to multidisciplinary public health management education and training. Only with such a joined up human resources plan can Our Healthier Nation succeed where The Health of the Nation signally failed.