Public Health Dorset

Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset councils working together to improve and protect health.

We are the public health service supporting Bournemouth Borough Council, Borough of Poole and Dorset County Council.

Councils now have a legal duty to improve the health and wellbeing of residents and to reduce the differences in health outcomes between populations they serve.

Public Health Dorset commissions a range of mandatory and non-mandatory public health services, including health improvement, the NHS Health Checks programme, sexual health services, children and young people and drug and alcohol services. We are also responsible for assurance of a wide range of screening and vaccination programmes, and for making sure the county is prepared in the event of a public health emergency like an outbreak of infectious diseases or major flooding.

We serve a diverse population of 750, 000 covering rural and urban areas, some of which are among the most deprived in the South West of England.