Stewardship, evolution and building coalitions: reflections as outgoing RSPH Chair

It was a privilege to give the 2026 AGM address as I finish my seven years an RSPH Trustee, three of them as Chair. This short blog draws together my reflections from that address on stewardship, enabling evolution and building coalitions to improve the public’s health.

My time with RSPH had several unexpected turns. When William and I discovered that royal patronage did not automatically transfer from one monarch to the next, we had a slightly nail-biting wait to learn whether King Charles III would remain RSPH’s Patron. Fortunately, he did.

It was a useful reminder: even for an institution celebrating 170 years, continuity cannot be taken for granted.

As I finish seven years on RSPH’s Board, including three as Vice Chair and three as Chair, that feels an appropriate starting point. Stewardship is not simply about preserving what you inherit. It is about enabling an organisation to evolve so it can have the greatest impact over the long term.

Building on what we inherited

RSPH’s foundations were built by generations before us. I particularly want to recognise Nigel Carter, whose stewardship exemplified that continuity and from whom I inherited so much. Our deepest condolences remain with his partner, Yannis.

When I joined the Board, I could not have anticipated the demands the Covid-19 pandemic would place on public health. Our members were supporting communities through extraordinary uncertainty, while the public needed trusted information.

Supporting our then Chief Executive, Shirley Cramer, and the wider leadership taught me that governance does not happen only around a boardroom table. Sometimes trustees must lean in, while respecting the distinction between supporting an organisation and running it.

As the immediate crisis receded, our question changed: how does RSPH need to evolve for the changed world?

Governance that enables evolution

Governance structures are not an end in themselves. Their value lies in enabling an organisation to become more effective, sustainable and impactful.

We broadened the Board’s skills, backgrounds and perspectives; strengthened relationships between trustees, executives and staff; and developed committees focused on areas that are core to RSPH’s impact including the workforce, policy and impact. These changes helped bring strategic decisions closer to the experience of delivery.

Alongside excellent work across the organisation, that approach supported surplus budgets in each of the past three years, despite a challenging financial environment.

There are further questions that remain to be addressed for RSPH’s evolution: how we genuinely reflect all four UK nations and what our global membership means for our role and offer internationally are two key examples.

Our approach to governance during this period has been to anticipate change rather than simply react to it.

Clarity about RSPH’s contribution

RSPH’s distinctive role in supporting the wider public-health workforce is well established. During my time, the RSPH board have seen our role as to keep sharpening that contribution rather than reinvent it.

The public’s health is shaped daily by people working in schools, housing, workplaces, leisure and community organisations, many without “public health” in their job title.

Last year, RSPH delivered over 24,000 qualifications and logged over 15,000 hours of CPD training in courses ranging from food hygiene to pest control. Behind those figures are people returning to their communities better equipped to improve and/or protect the public’s health.

Strategic clarity helps us concentrate our resources and voice where we can have the greatest impact.

The people behind the progress

Organisations evolve because of people, not simply strategies or structures.

I am grateful to my fellow trustees, RSPH’s staff, members, volunteers and partners. I particularly want to thank William for a partnership built on trust, openness, support and the ability to challenge one another.

Building coalitions, not camps

These years have reinforced my belief that public health makes the greatest progress when we build coalitions rather than camps.

That starts within public health itself: across professional bodies, disciplines, institutions and the boundaries between research, policy and delivery. Our different roles should be complementary strengths, not reasons to retreat into separate groups.

It also means engaging constructively across political divides. Healthier lives benefit families, communities, employers and public services. People can support that ambition from very different political starting points. Coalition-building does not mean overlooking disagreements or compromising evidence. Engagement with industry, where interests genuinely align, must recognise that commercial interests can also conflict with health.

To make most progress for the public’s health (and the economic benefits that would follow), we should be ambitious about the destination and pragmatic about the route. I’ve enjoyed supporting RSPH act as a convenor and bridge throughout my time as a Trustee. 

The next chapter

Nick Harding, my successor, inherits an organisation with deep roots, clearer strategic focus and governance that has continued to evolve. His task, alongside William, the Board and the team, is not to preserve our version of RSPH but to determine what it needs to become next to best contribute to the public’s health. Institutions like RSPH endure not by staying the same, but by remaining useful. 

It has been an enormous privilege to play my part. I hand on that responsibility with gratitude, pride in our collective achievements and confidence in what comes next.