Membership of the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) is normally achieved through examination in two separate parts, DFPH and MFPH (previously known as Part A and Part B/OSPHE - Objective Structured Public Health Examination).

DFPH is a national exam held twice per year, now in March and October. Registrars in the East of England sit this written exam in the March following completion of the initial academic (MPhil) year and MFPH is normally taken around 9 to 12 months following a pass at DFPH. A registrar who has passed both exams is enrolled as a Member of the Faculty. There are no further mandatory exams in the training programme.

DFPH is the "knowledge" exam, testing understanding of public health concepts including epidemiology, statistics and social sciences. While the MPhil academic course undoubtedly prepares registrars for part of the examination, candidates also need to be able to apply theoretical learning to a service situation. Registrars are strongly advised to apply their knowledge in the service setting for a realistic attempt at DFPH.

MFPH is a practical exam, designed to allow registrars to demonstrate their skills in communication and understanding of practical public health.

In addition to these national exams, there is a test of communicable disease control knowledge and its application - the "on call" assessment. This is taken after DFPH and, as the name suggests, must be passed before a registrar may go on the on call rota for out of hours health protection work.

There is group and individual support for registrars taking exams available from supervisors, peers and the training programme faculty. Some resources which registrars have found useful are provided below.

For full FPH guidance on exams, please click here.

Workplace-based assessments

In order to pass between phases registrars will be required to evidence satisfactory achievement of learning outcomes for that phase, and record this in an online portfolio. Every learning outcome for which a registrar wishes to claim competence must be evidenced through formal assessment. Educational supervisors will make this assessment to sign off learning outcomes, using agreed national guidance and standards in the FPH Curriculum.