Student Nurses
Induction Pack
Public Health Wales
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales
Welcome to Public Health Wales
We hope that you find your placement here with us informative and enjoyable.
While you are with us your main contact person will be:
NAME: ................................................................
CONTACT NUMBER:.............................................
They are based at:
.......................................................................
If you are unable to get hold of your contact the main number for Public Health
Wales is 029 20 227744. Please leave a message for the Interim Assistant
Director of Nursing.
During your placement you will spend time with different people and in different
locations. To help you plan your week the following table summarises your
visits/ location.
DAY
PLACEMENT
eg VPDP, Screening
etc
Monday
LOCATION
CONTACT
Uniform
(inc phone number)
(Yes/No)
am
pm
Tuesday
am
pm
Wednesday
am
pm
Thursday
am
pm
Friday
am
pm
We have included information on the following pages about Public Health Wales
and the various learning opportunities available within the organisation.
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales
About Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales was established as an NHS Trust on 1 October 2009 and has
four statutory functions:

To provide and manage a range of public health, health protection,
healthcare improvement, health advisory, child protection and
microbiological laboratory services and services relating to the
surveillance, prevention and control of communicable diseases;

To develop and maintain arrangements for making information about
matters related to the protection and improvement of health in Wales
available to the public; to undertake and commission research into such
matters and to contribute to the provision and development of training in
such matters;

To undertake the systematic collection, analysis and dissemination of
information about the health of the people of Wales in particular including
cancer incidence, mortality and survival; and prevalence of congenital
anomalies; and

To provide, manage, monitor, evaluate and conduct research into
screening of health conditions and screening of health related matters.
Board
Public Health Wales has a Board comprising a Chair, six Non Executive
Directors and five Executive Directors led by a Chief Executive. The Executive
Directors meet with three other Board level Directors as the Public Health
Wales Executive Team.
Membership of the Board of Public Health Wales comprises:
Chair
Third Sector Representative
Local Government Representative
Independent Member
Independent Member
Independent Member
University Representative
Chief Executive
Deputy Chief Executive and Executive
Director of Finance
Executive Director of Public Health
Services
Executive Director of Public Health
Development
Executive Director of Planning and
Performance
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales
Professor Sir Mansel Aylward CB
Dr Carl Clowes
vacant
Professor Simon Smail
John Spence
Terry Rose
Professor Gareth Williams
Dr Tracey Cooper
Huw George
Dr Quentin Sandifer
Dr Peter Bradley
Mark Dickinson
The following people attend Board meetings:
Director of Communications
Director of Workforce and
Organisational Development
Board Secretary
Director of Nursing
Chris Lines
Ruth Davies
Keith Cox
Rhiannon Beaumont-Wood
Further information is available from the Public Health Wales Board webpage.
Strategy
The Public Health Wales Board has approved a
strategy which sets out the organisation’s aim,
purpose, approach, and commitments and
which is underpinned by priorities for action.
Link to Strategy document:
http://nww2.nphs.wales.nhs.uk:8080/Corporat
eServicesDocuments.nsf/65ffc2bb7492efeb802
56f2a004a1b2e/3786c77f5e591ba380257c240
042db4d/$FILE/Public%20Health%20Wales%2
0Strategy%20v1%20141113.pdf
Structure
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales
Nursing in Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales employs nearly 70 nurses who work in a variety of roles.
They are professionally accountable to the Director of Nursing (Rhiannon
Beaumont-Wood) and usually work as part of a wider multi-disciplinary team,
within the three main domains of public health:



Improving health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities;
Improving the quality, equity and effectiveness of healthcare services;
and
Protecting people from infectious and environmental hazards.
Definition of a Public Health Nurse Role: While most nurses care for one patient at a time, public health
nurses care for entire populations. By working with whole communities, public health nurses are able to
educate people about health issues, improve community health and safety and increase access to care.
Nurses and midwives play a pivotal role in contributing to improve and protect health and promote well
being by drawing upon their knowledge and skills and offering a first class quality service to the general
population.
http:/explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/149/Public_Health_Nurse
Learning Opportunities
Current service and programme areas where nurses and midwives are working
in Public Health Wales are:-
Health Protection
Health Protection Nurses work as part of an all Wales
service based in premises strategically located around
Wales. They play a key role in the delivery of the health
protection agenda and contribute to implementation of
policies, procedures and guidelines and provide an acute
response to notification of communicable disease and
chemical incidents. Functions and responsibilities
include:




Communicable disease management and control
and the provision of advice and support to members of the public, other
health professionals and agencies on communicable disease issues
Provision of advice and support for infection control in healthcare
premises, residential homes and community nursing facilities
Specialist advice and support on a number of topics such as Immunisation
and Vaccination programmes, Blood Borne Viruses and Tuberculosis.
Contributing to the response for the management of chemical, radiation,
poisons and environmental hazards.
Blood Borne Virus Prison Nurse Specialist
This specialist nurse implements and supports the blood borne virus services
across Welsh prisons. These include clinical testing services, vaccination
programmes, in-reach treatment services and educational health promotion for
prisoners and staff. They are responsible for:
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales




Monitoring prevalence of hepatitis B and C within the prisons and uptake
of hepatitis B vaccinations
Supporting communicable disease management and control across the
prisons
Providing educational programmes and support on the above to prison
staff
Conducting and supporting research to develop prison healthcare services
Screening
Each screening
programme has a
defined population and
disease pathway and
nurses and midwives
working within the
range of screening
programmes have
varied roles. This can
involve giving direct
clinical care in addition
to providing coordination, training/ teaching of other professionals, leadership and
,management for the programmes. Screening Division manages national
screening programmes for the Welsh population including:
 Breast Test Wales
 Cervical Screening Wales
 Antenatal Screening Wales
 Newborn Hearing Screening Wales
 Bowel Screening Wales
 Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Wales
 Newborn Bloodspot Screening Wales
Safeguarding Children Service
Nurses working alongside medical colleagues in the Safeguarding Children
Service, provide strategic focus and demonstrate professional leadership to the
NHS in Wales in order to promote welfare and safeguard children, including
those looked after by local authorities. They are a source of professional
expertise to the Welsh Government and provide professional advice, guidance
and support to Health Boards and NHS Trusts. They are members of the
statutory Safeguarding Children Boards and contribute to Child Practice Reviews
(CPRs) and education programmes. Working as a team they synthesise the
learning from reviews and along with other data and knowledge from research,
use this to support training and further improve safeguarding practice in health
services.
1000 lives Improvement Service
There are a number of nurses and midwives working within the 1000 Lives
Improvement Service who come from a range of clinical backgrounds. These
include District Nursing, Health Visiting, Midwifery, Intensive Care, Theatre and
Acute Care. They are able to bring the perspective of their knowledge and
experience from these backgrounds in to the work and focus of the 1000 lives
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales
Improvement Service. All are passionate about considering change and
improvements from a patient/ public perspective and recognise the valuable
contribution that patients/ carers and the wider public can make to
improvement.
National Breastfeeding Programme for Wales
A midwife leads the co-ordinating role for the National Breastfeeding Programme
for Wales, providing system leadership, advice and support to professional
colleagues such as Health Visitors, Midwives and Public Health Specialists. The
aim of the Programme is to increase breastfeeding rates throughout Wales in
order to improve the physical and emotional health of mothers and babies.
Welsh Healthcare Associated Infection
Programme
The Welsh Healthcare Associated Infection
Programme (WHAIP) is one part of the Health
Protection services offered by Public Health Wales.
Nurses work in WHAIP as part of a multidisciplinary
team who work in the area of healthcare associated
infection (HCAI) and infection prevention and
control. The team itself provides a range of
expertise and skills which advises on HCAIs and related prevention and control
strategies. Expert scientific advice is available for the development of
surveillance programmes and epidemiological and infection control support is
available for the investigation of outbreaks or unexpected increases in diseases
in NHS trusts/Health Boards in Wales. WHAIP provides a framework for NHS
Trusts/Health Boards in Wales to ensure that the methods and protocols used for
the collection of HCAI surveillance data are consistent on a national level. WHAIP
also collates surveillance data provided by the NHS trusts/Health Boards and
compiles national surveillance reports on HCAI rates in Wales. From these
reports, trends and any areas of concern are highlighted to local infection control
teams so that appropriate action can be taken if necessary.
Vaccine Preventable Disease Programme
The nurses in Vaccine Preventable
Disease Programme (VPDP) have a
wide range of professional experience,
including primary care, school nursing,
paediatric, secondary care, health
visiting and midwifery. These nurses
have an important role promoting
immunisation in Wales, helping
support service providers reduce
inequalities and morbidity and
mortality associated with vaccine
preventable diseases. The VPDP nurses are key contributors, and often lead, on
the development of public health interventions to achieve these objectives. They
support and drive the development of guidance and also identify examples of
good practice, and share initiatives, with the aim of best protecting population
health with education, facilitation and the development of resources for health
care workers and the public positively influencing immunisation uptake.
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales
Corporate Nursing
Corporate nurses consist of the
Director of Nursing, the Named
Professional for Safeguarding and
the lead Nurse for Infection
Prevention and Control. Roles
include providing leadership, advice,
developing strategies, guidance and
providing a focus on safety and
quality in a range of topics. These
include professional nursing issues,
service user experience,
safeguarding, infection prevention and control. The Director of Nursing
contributes more generally as a member of the Executive team in providing the
necessary assurance to the Board in maintaining robust governance,
accountability and the successful delivery of the three year integrated medium
term plan, which underpins the strategic aims of Public Health Wales.
Local Public Health Teams
Nurses throughout Public Health Wales work closely with the local public health
teams that are located throughout Wales. Public Health Wales provides specific
support to health boards in fulfilling their statutory functions, including:












Investigation and management of communicable diseases
Surveillance of communicable diseases
Developing immunisation strategy, supporting and monitoring
immunisation programmes
Providing advice on community infection control
Preparation and communication of information on communicable diseases
to community
Providing advice on environmental health issues
Dealing with health protection queries from professionals, public and
media on a daily basis
Facilitating the completion of the LHB audits of child protection
Involvement in child protection case reviews
Advice on Out of County placements
Planning child protection training for Boards
Providing specialist dental public health advice to improve oral health,
support planning of dental services and ensure patient safety for dental
patients.
Public Health Wales also provides specialist public health support to the 22 local
authorities in Wales.
Policies/ proceedures (including Raising Concerns)
Public Health Wales policies are available on the following link:
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/46724 . If you have a concern or
identify a risk, during your placement, information about Raising a Concern is
avaiable here: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/46740
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Student Induction Pack: Public Health Wales