May’s Presidential blog

Last week, I had the pleasure of introducing ADPH’s Annual Review to our members at the ADPH AGM. In the five years I have been on the Board, and most recently over the last seven months since becoming the Association’s President, I have learnt a lot about what goes on behind the scenes and am staggered by the quantity – and more importantly, the quality – of the Association’s work.

In 2023/24 we had 435 members. This includes all the Directors of Public Health (DsPH) across the four countries and dependant territories along with over 200 Deputy Directors and Consultants. We also have 41 Alumni Members.

In contrast, there are 19 members of staff, five of whom are part time, supporting us to represent the collective voice of DsPH on public health policy at a national level, supporting practice improvement, and providing an ongoing programme of professional development opportunities to members.

Over the last year, members have seen an expansion in the support offer, with workshops and webinars held on a range of topics including drugs and alcohol, health inequalities, the Public Health Grant, and climate change, as well as the usual support given to new DsPH. We are also fortunate enough to be able to provide all DsPH in England with a regular audience with the CMO, giving us an invaluable opportunity to share our experiences as jobbing DsPH with the Government.

Meanwhile, our relationships with stakeholders go from strength to strength and, through the work of projects on healthy places, infants, children and young people, and the commercial determinants of health, we have been able to make strong connections with new, as well as existing, partners.

In the run up to the General Election, we have also secured meetings with a range of parliamentarians, helping to raise both the profile of the DPH role and the calls made in our Manifesto for a Healthier Nation.

Alongside this work, we have been highlighting the DPH role and our key messages about public health policy to a wider audience, securing over 700 media mentions in a wide range of publications and broadcast media. How the organisation communicates with members has also been improved, with members now benefiting from a secure online platform to exchange information and seek support from colleagues and new newsletters being produced for members in Scotland and Wales.

Of course, none of these things can happen without effective management and governance, and the team have put a lot of work into making systems and processes more efficient to ensure our members are getting real value for money.

I can of course only take partial credit for these achievements. Thanks must go to our Council and my fellow Board members. We are particularly indebted to Rupert Suckling and Helen Atkinson who are stepping down from the Board but have shared so much of their experience and wisdom. Thanks too to our previous President, Jim McManus, whose hard work and tireless enthusiasm has helped the organisation go from strength to strength, building on the raised profile that resulted from the pandemic, and continue to be a powerful force for good.

This strength doesn’t just come from the Board, Council and staff – all of whom do an incredible job – but from all our members. Thanks to contributions from members from all four countries and the dependant territories, and strong partnerships with a wide range of organisations, we have advocated strongly for long-term solutions to create healthy environments for all.

This call is key to all our work and is one which, if adopted, will help to reduce preventable ill-health, and benefit the economy by reducing demand on our health and social care services, and improving productivity.

It is important though that as we move forward, we continue to listen to and learn from ADPH’s membership so that we constantly improve our practice to benefit local communities and, at the same time, effectively represent the voice of local public health at a national level to bring about positive change for the whole country.

While we don’t know what opportunities and challenges the next Government will bring, we do know that despite our small size, we are a trusted and respected voice and, thanks to our collective dedication, will be on hand to be as constructive as possible, and as challenging as necessary in order to improve, protect and promote our population’s health.