The voice of public health must become less 'fragmented', according to new Faculty of Public Health president Professor Alan Maryon Davis.
Professor Maryon Davis said there needed to be 'much closer working in public health'.
Speaking to HSJ ahead of his speech to the Faculty of Public Health's annual conference this week he said the public health movement needed to ensure it had a stronger voice.
'The voice of public health in general needs to be in the right place at the right time.
'We need to make sure we are moving in the corridors of power and engaging with policy-makers at the earliest opportunity,' he said.
He warned against a functional split between the different components of public health.
'There is a danger that public health could be split up between health improvement, health protection and healthcare provision,' he said.
Professor Maryon Davis also urged primary care trust commissioners to 'heed and embrace' the advice of their public health professionals.
'Public health professionals are producing masses of information and evidence, but to what extent does this get taken on board by commissioners? They must meet us half way, we need to work closely together,' he said.
He also called on the government under new prime minister Gordon Brown to put 'proper resourcing up-stream' into prevention and health promotion.
'We need a real cross-government commitment that there will be much closer working across government departments and public health needs sustained mainstream funding,' he added.
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