Careers at Community and Public Health
A career with Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health will see you working for an organisation committed to providing the best public health services possible. Opportunities exist for career development, with the chance to gain extensive experience in a public health related setting.
Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health has three distinct types of public health workers: Health Promoters, Health Protection Officers and Public Health Physicians.
Other key people who make up the workforce include:
- Alcohol Licensing Officers;
- Communicable Disease Nurses;
- Intelligence Analysts;
- Smokefree Enforcement Officers; and
- Administration staff.
- Find out more about Community and Public Health, including the organisation’s structure.
Community and Public Health becoming part of the new National Public Health Service
The New Zealand health system transition began on 1st July 2022. Currently we are in the initial 2-year period of reset.
Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health is becoming part of Te Waipounamu region of the new National Public Health Service (NPHS) within Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora. Our staff will continue to provide the same local services, and will work more closely with our public health colleagues around the rest of the South Island.
- Find out more about the NZ health system reforms (Future of Health).
Focus of Health Promoters
Health Promoters plan, implement and evaluate activities that promote health and wellbeing in communities. Health promotion is about having better health and more control over wellbeing.
Most health promoters work on one or two key issues (such as nutrition or tobacco control) or work in settings such as schools or marae with a focus on a group, such as children. They seek evidence-based strategies to achieve change.
Health promoters need a wide range of skills and usually continue to train in specific areas dictated by the particular needs of their role.
Role of Health Protection Officers
Role of Health Protection OfficersHealth Protection Officers (HPOs) plan and implement activities that protect health and wellbeing in communities. They investigate public health concerns, provide advice and information to community leaders and the public as part of a public health enforcement team. They carry out a regulatory role on behalf of the Director-General of Health.
HPOs identify and quantify threats, and work with others to minimise them. Areas of specific focus are environmental health and communicable diseases. Environmental issues covered include bio-security and quarantine, recreational water quality, hazardous substances, and resource management issues. They also contribute to the management of sustainable environments.
Health Protection Officers also undertake surveillance and investigation of communicable disease. They prevent diseases spreading by food and water and also enforce effective waste disposal.
Medical Expertise in Public Health
Public Health Medicine Specialists are qualified medical doctors who choose to specialise in the health of groups or whole communities rather than working on individual healthcare. They are involved in promoting health and preventing disease by assessing a community’s health needs and by providing services to these communities.
Most public health medicine specialists are involved in planning, funding and management of health services, the delivery of public health projects, and communicable disease control. Some public health physicians might undertake specialisation as a Medical Officer of Health – with specific regulatory powers and responsibilities under the Health Act and other public health legislation.
Documents
- Pacific Health Workforce Strategy (Health New Zealand 2024).
- Health Workforce Plan 2023/24 (Te Whatu Ora).
- Health Workforce Strategic Framework (Ministry of Health 2023).
- The Cost and Value of Employment in the Health and Disability Sector (Ministry of Health 2020).
- Health Workforce New Zealand Annual Report to the Minister of Health: 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017 (Ministry of Health 2018).
- Health of the Health Workforce 2015 (Ministry of Health 2016).
Vacancies at Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health
Currently job vacancies to replace existing Te Mana Ora roles are advertised through the regional District Health Board:
- Find out about Canterbury vacancies (Te Whatu Ora Canterbury Waitaha).
- Find out about South Canterbury vacancies (Te Whatu Ora South Canterbury).
- Find out about West Coast vacancies (Te Whatu Ora Te Tai o Poutini West Coast).
New National Public Health Service roles within Te Mana Ora or Te Waipounamu/ South Island are being advertised through Te Whatu Ora.
Vacancies at Te Whatu Ora
- Find out more about working for Te Whatu Ora, including current clinical and corporate vacancies.
Profiles of staff at Community and Public Health
The following are recent short interviews with staff members at Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health…
- Health Protection Officer Ayan Hussein [146KB].
- Communities Team Manager Salesulu Magnum Tuipulotu [146KB].
- Policy and Protection Teams Manager Tanya McCall [185KB].
- Smokefree Health Promoter Mitchell Jordan [182KB].
- Health Protection Officer Debbie Smith [272KB].
- Physical Activity Health Promoter Meg Christie [310KB].
- Nutrition Health Promoter Bek Parry [170KB].
- Māori Health Promoter Christina Henderson [217KB].