The joint London Environmental Health Professional post is funded by the Health Protection Agency in London and ALEHM, and managed by the London Regional Policy Officer at the CIEH. Year one of the project involved looking at the barriers to good communication between environmental health departments and Health Protection Units in London as well as identifying issues surrounding the notification system.
A full report of this work is now available and can be downloaded here. The recommendations include:
- Agreed communication frameworks between environmental departments and the four HPUs for both in and out of hours services
- Production of a joint, pan-London memorandum of understanding on infectious disease notification and investigation, and a related toolkit
- Increased HPU/EH forums and training opportunities
- Increased awareness of the work and services provided by the HPAs London CoSurv development team
- Clarification and agreement regarding notification pathways
In year two of the project, Sian Hale has been working to take forward the recommendations made in the report in conjunction with the HPA, CIEH, ALEHM and London local authorities. As part of this a new group has been set up, the London Health Protection Working Group which contains members from the above organizations. For more information on the group, and to see minutes and documents produced, please click here.
To contact Sian for more information on her work or to discuss the report, please email her (londonehp@cieh.org)