Public Health Specialist (Mental Health)
Job Description
Job summary
Somerset Council is looking to appoint an enthusiastic and skilled Public Health Specialist to provide strategic leadership for improving mental health and wellbeing across Somerset. This is an exciting new role where you will apply a broad range of Public Health knowledge and skills, such as critical appraisal, analysis and evaluation of data and needs, strategic leadership and partnership working to address and improve all age public mental.
Somersetis a large geographical county with urban centres, market towns and vast rural areas, and it faces a number of important mental health challenges, including the impact of rurality, social isolation, and workforce and economic pressures, and the access to and delivery of services across the county.
The postholder will provide strategic leadership to embed mental health and wellbeing priorities across the county. Additionally, you will work collaboratively with our established Suicide Prevention Partnership, working across local government, health and care providers, third sector and the community to deliver the Somerset Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-2030, to improve population wellbeing, reduce and prevent suicide, strengthen crisis and bereavement support and embed suicide prevention as everybodys business. As a specialist, you will also play a key role in leading the development, commissioning and delivery of programmes and interventions to improve and raise awareness of public mental health.
Main duties of the job
You will be educated to masters level or have comparable professional experience with a proven track record of delivering programmes that have had demonstrable impact on health and well-being outcomes. You will be an enthusiastic team player who is able to influence and advocate across the public health team and with a wide range of stakeholders to optimise the public health gain for our local population.
The shared vision for health and wellbeing in Somerset is for people to live healthy and independent lives, supported by thriving and connected communities with timely and easy access to high-quality and efficient public services when they need them.
You will be:
- Able to operationalise public health strategies and priorities
- Confident working collaboratively on complex, system issues, with experience of building and maintaining relationships across a range of services and sectors
- Confident in using data to determine needs and critically appraising evidence to deliver or commission interventions
- Positive, committed, adaptable and organised
- An advocate for the impact of health inequalities and social determinants of health on the mental health needs of Somersets population and the need for change
About us
- Full time (37 hours per week).
- Flexible and hybrid working (1-2 days per week in the office).
- 33 days of annual leave (pro-rata, additional to bank holidays).
Regretfully, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. We are only able to proceed with candidates who already have the right to work in the UK without the need for visa sponsorship.
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Job responsibilities
The Public Health Specialist plays a key role in improving the health and wellbeing of Somersets population by leading the development, commissioning and delivery of evidence-based public health programmes and services. Working across the Council and with system partners, the post holder provides specialist expertise to shape policy, inform strategic planning and ensure that public health priorities are effectively translated into high-quality, equitable services. The role focuses on analysing complex data and intelligence, assessing population health needs, and driving interventions that address health inequalities and improve long-term outcomes.
The post holder operates at a senior level within their area of expertise, providing leadership across multi-agency partnerships to influence commissioning, service redesign and system-wide decision-making. They lead major programmes and projects, support the delivery of statutory public health duties, and contribute to the development and implementation of local, regional and national policy. Through strong stakeholder engagement, governance oversight and performance management, the Public Health Specialist ensures that services are evidence-led, responsive to community needs and aligned with the Councils strategic objectives.
Operational Delivery
- Commission and/or act as the Councils lead client in relation to public health services.
- Manage major programmes within area of expertise or where specialism is dominant.
- Deliver major projects and resolve complex casework where required by the Director of Public Health
Service Planning and Delivery
- Shape and recommend Council policy concerning specialist areas of public health activity.
- Shape and influence the Somerset system service planning and delivery, in relation to public health priorities.
Strategic Development
- Determine or support the determination, of the strategic direction of the Council and partner agencies in relation to specialist public health expertise.
Subject Matter Expert
Surveillance and assessment of the populations wellbeing:
- Access and utilise information and intelligence systems to underpin public health improvement and action across disciplines and organisations.
- Write and/or contribute to national and local policy setting reports on the health of the population of Somerset within the area of higher-level practice and specialist responsibility.
Public Health Intelligence
- Analyse and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data and research evidence from a range of sources to make recommendations and inform decision making which has long term impacts, as appropriate to the area of higher-level practice.
- Compare, analyse and interpret highly complex options for running projects identified as key public health priorities, for example the integration of early help and health and well-being services and communicate this information across organisations and the local community.
- Lead on, plan and design agreed aspects of the assessment of health needs, health inequalities, and health impact assessment, to identify areas for action within the local population based on the best available evidence and to be responsible for short- and long-term planning and for providing advice on the treatment of groups of populations.
Assessing the evidence of effectiveness of health and healthcare interventions, programmes and services (healthcare public health)
- Provide expert public health advice and leadership and inform an evidence-based approach within ethical frameworks for commissioning and to develop high quality equitable services, across primary, secondary and social care, and across sectors including local authorities, voluntary organisations, in potentially contentious and hostile environments where barriers to acceptance may exist
- Be responsible for leading on service development, evaluation and quality assurance governance in an area of higher-level practice and for preparing and adjusting action plans in line with changing needs and changing geographical boundaries.
- Be responsible for the identification and implementation of appropriate health outcome measures, care pathways/protocols and guidelines for service delivery across patient pathways for the local population as appropriate to the area of higher-level practice.
Policy and Strategy Development and Implementation
- Lead (on behalf of the Somerset Council Public Health team) the communication, dissemination, implementation and delivery of national, regional and local policies, developing inter-agency and interdisciplinary strategic plans and programmes, within a specialist area of practice and with the support of Consultants and the Director of Public Health.
- Be responsible for the development and implementation of multi-agency long-term public health programmes as required, based on identification of areas of potential health improvement, the diversity of local needs and the reduction of inequalities.
Health Improvement
- Be responsible for designated areas of health improvement programmes. This may include engagement with primary care professionals and community staff to raise awareness and achieve engagement in their public health role.
- Take a senior level leadership role in an area of higher-level practice with local communities and vulnerable and hard to reach groups, helping them to take action to tackle longstanding and widening health inequality issues, using community development approaches as appropriate.
- Provide expert knowledge to ensure ...
