One of the strengths of being an EHP is that you will be the profession’s ‘all rounders’ who can provide first-level support and advice across all or most areas of environmental health.
Everyone who trains to become a qualified EHP will gain the broad knowledge-base required for the generalist role. Those who decide to remain as general practitioners are in most demand in smaller, mainly rural local authorities. There are growing opportunities too in the private sector, where more and more companies are creating broad advisory roles for generalist practitioners.
In both the public and private sectors, general practitioners will usually be the first point of reference on a wide range of issues. The deeper complexities and longer-term project challenges will be taken up by specialists, either from within the organisation or from outside consultancies.
At any point in their career, there is nothing to stop a Generalist becoming a specialist.