Can you tell us about your current role and where you work?

I am currently working in Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as a Deputy Director for Health Improvement and Workforce Development in one of the regional teams in England.  

This means I lead a team within the region who cover public health programmes across the life course including physical activity, children and young people, smoking and vaping, alcohol and drugs and more. I am a member of the senior leadership team both in DHSC but also in the NW region. I work with national policy teams and have national leadership responsibilities for workforce development and wider determinants.  

I also am a member of Faculty of Public Health Board as their assistant registrar and have roles with UKPHR.  

What is your favourite part of your role? 

Working across regional organisations including UKHSA, NHS England and DHSC, with national policy teams in DHSC and also with local PH systems including the 24 local authorities and the 3 integrated care systems. I also work with other partners including those in academic bodies, voluntary sector and the wider NHS family. For policy work this extends to other government departments including DWP, DfE and others. Relationships are a key enabler to our delivery.  

I also enjoy leading a team of public health experts and business staff who all bring different experiences, skills and styles into the team which makes us a strong high performing team.  

Can you give us an overview of your career path into public health and what support could have helped with this? 

My degree was in history and I started my career in Education in a local authority before moving into the Fire Service, and then Police Service in corporate business planning roles. I then decided I wanted to work in the NHS and joined a Primary Care Trust, and joined a public health team as the business manager. I then developed my career through completing a MSc in Management and Leadership and moved into a Public Health role on promotion leading on health intelligence and joined their senior team which allowed me develop personally and professionally. I gained great experience of being in an integrated Public Health team and during the transition from the NHS into local government in 2012-13 I led the transition programme.  

After 6 years in local public health I secured a regional public health role in Public Health England working in healthcare public health, and then a national policy role leading Healthy Places.  

These moves gave be breadth of experience across the domains of public health and I submitted my specialist portfolio to UKPHR and gained registration as a specialist in February 2020. I took up my first consultant in public health role later that year in the SW region where I live and started my career.  

When I joined the Public Health family I was warmly welcomed as I came from a non health background but brought new skills to the team. The team were very supportive of my development including my MSc and later on in my career this continued when I joined PHE in 2014. I recall an honest career conversation about where I saw myself in the future, and I realised that becoming a registered specialist was an option and my registration journey started – I draw on wider support for this as it’s a mammoth process to complete and it was essential to have support from others who have completed specialist registration via portfolio route themselves.  

In your role, how do you support/improve the public’s health and wellbeing? 

Working regionally we focus on a large population and geographical area. I lead a team who deliver health improvement programmes across the region and our role includes supporting local areas to implement policy, identifying and promoting good practice, running system events for the region. I also work with other regional organisations and also with national policy teams to influence future policy.  

What are the biggest challenges you are facing within your role right now? 

Prioritisation – there is so much to do, we all have limited capacity and resource so tough decisions on what and where to prioritise. Over my career I’ve learnt it’s better to do a few things well rather than try and do everything and not deliver.  

What area(s) of public health are you the most passionate about? 

Public Health is multi-disciplinary which means every team is different and it brings together people from different professions into Public Health, and we all contribute to improve public health outcomes for our populations and ultimately reducing health inequalities. I now enjoy supporting others with their journey into the Public Health family whether this is through practitioner registration, specialist registration, coaching and mentoring and developing my team to further their career.  

I love the variety of working in public health, one day I can be working on workforce planning, research priorities and the next on wider determinants so how housing and planning impacts on health.  

What advice would you give to someone considering joining the wider public health workforce? 

Do it you won’t regret it – wherever you are in the public health workforce there are so many options and roles, different places you can work – locally, regionally, nationally or internationally and in academic settings, NHS roles, in education roles, and many many more.  

What do you think the next 10 years looks like for public health? 

As I write this (September 2024) there are opportunities and challenges. Opportunities, we have a new government and a renewed focus on public health and prevention. The independent Darzi report sets out the challenges and in early 2025 there will be a new 10 year health plan. This will naturally shape what the next 10 years looks like for us in Public Health.  

There will always be challenges, wherever you work in the system and include the financial pressures on the system and also increasing demand on health services through ill health.