ABSTRACT
This chapter explores public health, identifies the relationship between health and wellbeing and discusses the relevance to community nursing. Public health seeks to protect and improve the health of communities, identifying causes of poor health, disease and illness in populations and examining it from the wider social and economic standpoints. The United Kingdom's Public Health Skills and Career Framework broadens this purpose and expresses that the purpose of public health should improve health and wellbeing in the population, prevent disease and minimise its consequences, thus prolonging valued life and reducing inequalities in health. As the contribution of health professionals to public health is widely acknowledged within recent government policy across the United Kingdom, it is worth reflecting on what this means for their role as a nurse. Public health requires services to focus upon the underlying social and contextual causes of the problems, suggesting that to improve health for all of us action is needed across the social gradient.
