Consultation on the Generic Competencies across Public Health Project

In 2005 a coalition of public health groups led by the Public Health Association (PHA) began work on the development of a set of generic competencies for all public health practitioners in Aotearoa-New Zealand. This 16-month project is part of the Ministry of Health's Public Health Workforce Development Plan (PH WDP). The aim of the project is to develop a set of generic competencies that will contribute to a "whole of sector" view of the workforce development required to meet the public health goals of improving the overall health of the population and reducing health inequalities.

The first phase of the project is now complete and a set of draft generic competencies is available on the PHA website (www.pha.org.nz) for feedback and comment. During the rest of the year, consultation will take place across the sector in as many different gatherings as possible in order to reach reasonable agreement on the competencies and to identify ways to support their implementation and use. A final report will be submitted to the Ministry of Health in February 2007.

The Public Health Association invites everyone who is involved in the provision of public health services to visit the website and contribute to the consultation process. Feedback can be given via an on-line questionnaire or by downloading and posting a hard copy of the questionnaire to the PHA at PO Box 11-243 Wellington. The website also has a regularly updated list of consultation meetings where the competencies will be introduced and discussed.

For further information on the project, please contact Sue Sewell at ccp@pha.org.nz.