The Public Health Department
The Public Health Department provides public health services to NHS Shetland and the local community. Our purpose is to promote, improve and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of Shetland, to prevent ill-health, and to reduce health inequalities.
We do this by
- taking a population perspective
- mobilising the organised efforts of society and acting as an advocate for the public's health
- enabling people and communities to increase control over their own health and wellbeing
- acting on the social, economic, environmental, and biological determinants of health and wellbeing
- protecting from, and minimising the impact of health risks to the population
- helping to ensure that preventive, treatment and care services are of high quality and best value, informed by available evidence
We provide some specific services to the public:
- Assessment of medical priority for housing applications
- Advice on immunisations and vaccinations
- Advice on common infectious diseases and their prevention / management / control
- Information on the health of Shetland to public service providers
- Information on Access to Services including approval of Extra Contractual Referrals (ECRs) and Out of Area Treatments (OATs); relevant documents include:
The Public Health Team can be contacted on 01595 743340 or out with office hours through the Gilbert Bain Hospital switchboard on 01595 743000. For non-urgent queries you can also e-mail: shet.PublicHealthShetland@nhs.scot
