As we discussed in regard to leadership (Chapter 1), the context in which the public health tools are used has a bearing on the choice of tool and how it is implemented. In the second part of Essential Public Health: Theory and Practice we will consider a range of contemporary contexts in which public health is practiced and illustrate how the tools we have described are applied.

First, the individual context. Throughout Part 1 of this book we have provided examples of where the public health tools we describe have been used. However, you the reader may be left wondering, “How would I use that skill?” “How is that relevant to my job?”

All the editors are employed (in part) as Consultants in Public Health within the NHS. Our jobs require us to use all the public health tools at our disposal in the fulfilment of our duties.We use epidemiological tools and demographic information to understand and describe the populations for which we are responsible. We lead teams and multi-agency networks to prioritise and drive changes in health and health improvement policy and practice.We develop strategies to encourage behaviour change in patients, the public and professionals. We focus on and evaluate the quality of screening programmes, their evidence base, equity of provision and safety. We are part of a health-protection on-call system, which responds to incidents and emergencies out of hours that have a potential population health impact. All the tools in Part 1 are part of our daily routines and essential to the outcomes we must achieve.