Public Health

Changes to public health services in Dorset

From 1 April 2025, public health services across Dorset will no longer be managed by Public Health Dorset and will instead be managed by the Public Health and Communities Team at BCP Council and the Public Health and Prevention Team at Dorset Council. 
 
This change is due to the separation of Public Health Dorset as a shared service, which was agreed by both BCP Council and Dorset Council in April 2024.

What do these changes mean?

Each local authority now has its own Public Health team with its own Director of Public Health. The appointment of the Director of Public Health for each team have now been confirmed: 

• Sam Crowe - Director of Public Health and Prevention, Dorset Council 
• Rob Carroll - Director of Public Health and Communities, BCP Council

Both new teams are working on ensuring service continuity during the transition. Importantly, all existing contracts with service providers will remain as they are for 1 April 2025, jointly managed by the BCP and Dorset Council teams. 

We expect no interruptions operationally. We will share updates throughout the transition regarding any changes on our newsroom.   

The new Directors of Public Health will oversee the development of the new public health function in each local authority. They, along with their respective teams, will undertake further planning on contracts work post-April 2025, in line with normal procurement timeframes.