Out and about with Louise: it’s all about partnerships (part 2)

In part two of my partnerships blog series, I take a closer look at our stakeholder mapping, governance and some general updates about ongoing work at CIEH.

I continue to be inspired by the efforts of our internal teams and volunteer members who are working closely together and look forward to providing further updates in the coming months about their fantastic efforts. 

Stakeholder mapping   

My role includes creating greater visibility for the profession via advocacy, professional policy, campaigning, external affairs, events, member engagement and partnership with stakeholders. With such a broad remit there is a lot we could do.

As a small organisation, with limited resources and members with a range of perspectives they feel strongly about, there is a limit to what we can cover so we have to prioritise. We are currently reviewing our stakeholder map to understand which organisations we will work closely alongside, where we have new networks to consider and which stakeholders our Advisory Panel volunteers can support, under CIEH guidance, which all feeds back into panel discussions. This provides us with an opportunity to focus internally on long-term relationships where we can all work together for the most influence. It provides member volunteers with a particular focus or specialism to influence decision-makers by working closely with us. An important part of the work of our panels is going to be to support CIEH key messages by being member champions which means we can reach out across more areas of EH.  

During August I met with my counterpart from Chartered Trading Standards Institute to discuss how we can support each other at events and we are supporting a CTSI  Megan Lee Hero Award. Megan Lee sadly lost her life following an allergic reaction in 2016. This award is for individuals or teams to showcase projects or initiatives that strive to make food safety a key priority. There is still time to nominate a team or individual who has supported an initiative or project in this area.   

We continue to collaborate closely with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which is working with our Food Advisory Panel. They are supportive of the approach we are taking to bring members together from a range of perspectives which means we have opportunities to be involved in important consultations from the start.  

The work of the Occupational Safety and Health Alliance is progressing and we had a meeting about coming together to support our members and duty holders in business with mental health initiatives. We are working together to focus on mental health in the final quarter of 2023. We are keen for CIEH members working in this area to share their perspectives on mental health as a public health issue across EH. We would like to showcase initiatives and case studies so please get in touch if you feel able to talk about your work or personal experiences.  

We are also in the early stages of working with the Association of Directors of Public Health to be involved in project work where we are looking more closely at planning.  

CIEH members working in local authorities are co-regulators with HSE and with the Environment Agency. We are all looking at how we can attract new people into the profession in the midst of a global skills crises. Members continually raise this as an urgent priority and we are continuing to lobby decision makers for proper funding and support in filling EH roles.  

Policy  

Our reach in respect of policy is astonishing. Even though UK Parliament has been in recess we have continued to work with government departments, particularly in respect of housing where we have been mentioned in a wide range of media coverage.   

Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen significant movement in respect of work being undertaken to campaign for greater regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. Last year our Vice-President Baroness Ilora Finlay spoke eloquently on our behalf in the House of Lords on the Health and Care Bill, and thanks to campaigning by CIEH, members and partners we will be coordinating a consultation response this year calling for practitioners to be properly trained, qualified, have the necessary insurance, and work in safe and hygienic conditions. We will be covering this and more at the CIEH Beauty Conference on 18 October 2023.  

We have commented on delays to the implementation of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) and have been meeting with members involved in port health during August as we look to establish a Port Health Advisory Panel. I spoke to a Guardian journalist on this topic and stressed the need to involve EHPs on the front line to protect the health of the public.  

As the new structures are rolled out across the Advisory Panels our policy positioning will strengthen across the nations and globally. This will take time to achieve, and everyone involved is feeling positive about the new ways of working.  

In other news  

Our dedicated team at 15Hatfields, CIEH’s HQ, have been working hard over the quieter summer months to carry out essential maintenance. I tend to use the office at least once a week to meet stakeholders or attend internal meetings and it is always great to catch up with everyone working here.

The venue was chosen to host this year's Conference News Sustainability Summit which took place on 7 September, with 114 delegates and 14 exhibitors from across the events industry on-site. This was a huge honour for the team and an opportunity for us to showcase 15Hatfields to the wider industry and demonstrate in practice that we are leading the way in sustainable venue management and event delivery.

It's no surprise then that the 15H team are currently in the running for a prestigious sustainability award from the Meetings Industry Association (MIA). The winner will be announced on 6 October - good luck Team 15! 

We are currently working on a refresh of EHN which will see it gradually evolve over the coming months to include more member-led content, news from the Advisory Panels, across the range of roles our members hold and more news from inside CIEH. I am working with our publishers to ensure we have responded to ideas from their last readers’ survey and to consider how we can continue to provide content which members feel is useful.  

I recorded a podcast, hosted by our member Christian Harris, with colleague Jon Buttolph which covered all the work we are currently undertaking to support members which we hope will spark an interest in EH from non-members.   

As we move into September I will be speaking at a range of conferences and representing CIEH and EH in talking about public health, housing, noise and mental health as a public health issue. I feel honoured to represent our hard-working and dedicated membership in this capacity. Follow my personal LinkedIn page and our socials to find out where I will be across September, October and November.