The life of a registrar at UKHSA

What is a public health registrar? 

Public health registrars are enrolled on a formal training programme in public health. The programme lasts five years (full time) with trainees working across a range of organisations which may include Local Authority Public Health, the NHS, Department of Health and Social Care, UKHSA and a range of others. There is a medical entry route (for doctors post foundation training) as well as entry for those from backgrounds other than medicine who have experience working in public health. Before joining the programme, I was a non-clinical operational manager in the NHS and also worked in healthcare consultancy. I have experience working in local government through my previous role as Head of Programme for the London Association of Directors of Public health. 

What does my role at UKHSA involve? 

As part of training, all public health registrars spend four months (full time) working in health protection. During this placement trainees gain experience responding to infectious diseases and non-environmental hazards and managing the public health response.  

For the first few weeks at UKHSA I was based in the Acute Response Team (ART) – the hub of health protection operations. Any notifications of infectious diseases from clinicians and laboratories, as well as enquiries from the public, come into the ART. As a team we then investigate the cases, undertake risk assessments, and provide public health advice to professionals and the public.  

As a non-clinician this was a new area for me and quite a steep learning curve – particularly as we often need to take detailed histories from people to understand what might have caused their illness to inform the public health response. The conversations can also be difficult at times, for example advising a parent to take their child out of nursery or speaking to the family of someone who is very unwell. The role also involves getting up to speed with many new diseases quickly. 

What has helped in my role? 

Although there is lots to learn, the team has a ‘buddy system’ meaning every day I am paired with an experienced member of the team who supports me through the cases and oversees my work. It has been incredible how willing all members of the team are to give up their time to support me in my placement, not only taking me through the core parts of the role but also giving the broader context and reasons for why we do things. There are also standard operating procedures which inform almost all activities undertaken in the ART, which ensures that the advice provided is evidence based and consistent. The health protection consultants oversee my development whilst I am on the placement and provide lots of opportunities to get involved with more strategic work and complex, longer lasting cases.  

Alongside my acute response work I am also involved in project work – this tends to be more strategic and might include areas such as prevention, reducing health inequalities, auditing of standards or development of guidance. I am currently working on a project to identify the needs and opportunities for health protection expertise in responding to poor air quality.  

Over the course of the placement there are lots of opportunities to experience the broader areas of health protection such as Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response (EPRR), field epidemiology, surveillance as well as spending time out in the region such as shadowing the TB nursing teams or visiting the microbiology labs in the South East.  

What have I enjoyed most about the placement so far? 

The things I have enjoyed most about my placement in the HPT have been developing a brand-new knowledge base, engaging with a range of healthcare professionals and the public, and working in a fast paced and highly varied environment – genuinely no two days are the same.  

Cliché but the best bit for me has been the team – the efforts that everyone has made to make me feel welcome, and the time given to support my development, despite only being with the organisation for a few months, has been amazing.