Mergers and consortia

Public Health (1993), 107, 151

(~) The Society of Public Health, 1993

Mergers and Consortia Many Departments of Public Health Medicine are or will be engaged in consortia negotiations in the near future. Such negotiations have a number of implications both for public health medicine staff and also for other medical staff. An immediate result of such mergers may be a reduction in the number of Directors of Public Health Medicine. Consortia or merger arrangements can also lead to an increase in departmental size which will reduce the problems previously faced by the isolated practitioner in a district and allow more communication with one's peers and possibly better opportunities for postgraduate training. Consortia arrangements between Districts and their FHSA will also raise the problem of the respective roles of the Director of Public Health and the Medical Adviser to the FHSA. Both have a legitimate interest in health promotion in the community. The Director of Public Health needs to forward the aims of the Health of the Nation. The Medical Adviser is especially concerned with the role of the GP in health promotion, also in relation to the Health of the Nation. There will be a need to work out how the Director of Public Health and the Medical Adviser relate without compromising the credibility of medical advisors with their general practitioners. This will be quite a challenge for Directors of Public Health. H . SCHNIEDEN