Nurses may receive more training in general health prevention as part of the Government's new policy on public health.

Dr Ruth Hussey, who is one of the three directors leading the healthcare changes, claimed it was important for all areas of the NHS to be better informed on general health issues.

In an interview with Nursing Times, Dr Hussey claimed that training offered to student nurses could be changed to reflect this. Those already in nursing or nurse manager jobs may also have to take new training courses.

"We need to embed a public health approach across all the workforce and part of the workforce strategy, I suspect, will address some of the wider issues about how we get preventative skills into the wider workforce," she hinted. 

"There are groups of specific professionals like public health nurses who play an absolutely key role. What's clear out of all of these changes is we want to ensure that we've got a strong, capable public health workforce in its broadest sense."

According to The Guardian, a large part of the Government's new policy will involve devolving decisions regarding public health down to local authorities.

Many of the changes will be outlined in a new strategy document to be unveiled this Autumn.