ADPH Awards 2023

This award was chosen by the UK’s four Chief Medical Officers and given to a DPH in recognition of the impact they have had since starting the role.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Ivan Browne, formerly DPH Leicester
• Darrell Gale, DPH East Sussex
• Alice Wiseman, DPH Gateshead

Winner: Ivan Browne

Ivan was this year’s recipient following his extraordinary leadership in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in possibly the most intensely scrutinised area of the UK. Ivan led the way on developing local testing, contact tracing and vaccination programmes, showing that community led interventions were paramount. He led with calmness and skill to get the very best out of his team and the wider system and showed a different, more humane way of being a leader, garnering huge respect across the city.

Ivan, who stepped down as DPH earlier this year, has shown there should be no limitations on ordinary people if they are given the support and encouragement to do extraordinary things.

This award recognises a DPH who has made a significant contribution to the work of the ADPH.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Amanda Healy, DPH Durham
• Lucy Hubber, DPH Nottingham

Winner: Amanda Healy

Amanda worked as DPH and Head of Commissioning for South Tyneside Council, before undertaking her current role as DPH for County Durham in 2017. Amanda is an extremely active member of ADPH, having sat on the ADPH Council since 2012 and been an SLI lead for the North East since 2017.  She is Chair of the North East ADPH Network and is Co-Chair of the Integrated Care System Healthier and Fairer Advisory Group.

Amanda is the Association’s Policy Lead for Health Protection and is involved in multiple other workstreams to influence the health protection landscape on behalf of DsPH. She provides crucial input to the UK Health Security Agency and other organisations, including NHS England and the Faculty of Public Health.

This award recognises a DPH for demonstrating or championing innovative practice within their organisation.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Lucy Hubber, DPH Nottingham
• Iona Lidington, DPH Kingston upon Thames
• David Regan, DPH Manchester

Winner: Lucy Hubber

In her first year in Nottingham, Lucy developed a new approach to using the public health grant, starting with reviewing how the grant was used. Over eight weeks, every line of investment into council services was reviewed for its eligibility against grant conditions and contribution to public health outcomes. Lucy talked to every division of the council to ensure that the public grant added value to the council’s pre-existing duties to improve the health of people in its area. A three-year transition plan was embedded within the council’s financial plan which supported a reinvestment of nearly £8m into interventions where the greatest impact on health and inequalities could be realised.

Lucy’s innovative approach has been praised by OHID, shared with other DsPH through ADPH’s Improving Practice programme, and has sparked a restructure of the public health team in Nottingham. However, ultimately, those benefiting most from Lucy’s work will be Nottingham’s residents.

This award recognises a DPH for leading a successful partnership with a sector or organisation.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Sally Burns, DPH West Northamptonshire
• Iona Lidington, DPH Kingston upon Thames
• David Regan, DPH Manchester

Kindly sponsored by the Faculty of Public Health.

Winner: David Regan

David developed Manchester’s sexual health network, which other areas then went onto replicate, as well as establishing the Manchester Joint Health Unit. This initiative created a cross-organisational team that meant Manchester was exceptionally well prepared when public health responsibilities moved to local government.

Manchester was also a trailblazer site for the national bowel screening programme and the NHS Health Check and David provided key leadership in the integration of health and social care and the subsequent establishment of the Greater Manchester devolved system. Most recently he has been the Deputy Place Lead for the Integrated Care Board, ensuring population health is at the core of the new hospital development in north Manchester.

David’s system wide credibility and leadership, along with his vision and determination have delivered tangible improvements to health in recent years.

This award recognises a public health team for establishing ways to improve public health practice.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Blackburn with Darwen (Abdul Razaq)
• Nottingham City Council (Lucy Hubber)
• Somerset (Trudi Grant)

Kindly sponsored by Solutions4Health.

Winner: Blackburn with Darwen

This year, the award was given to the Blackburn with Darwen Public Health Team for their work on reducing the prevalence of tooth decay in children. In 2019, 51% of the borough’s five-year-olds had decayed, missing or filled teeth – the highest proportion in England.

Under the leadership of DPH Abdul Razaq, the borough published a five-year Oral Health Improvement Partnership Strategy and, despite the challenges of Covid-19, remained steadfast in the implementation of plan. They showed resilience and determination to provide long-term interventions to improve child oral health, building on lessons learnt from previous programmes. By listening to community health champions, altering delivery of evidence-based programmes, and supporting initiatives to enable those in the most isolated communities, the team are now seeing incredibly positive results and Blackburn with Darwin is no longer the local authority with the highest rate of dental decay for five-year-olds in England.

This award recognises a DPH and their team for undertaking public health research, or using research evidence, to inform decision making in their organisation.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Sally Cartwright & Luton PH Team
• James Williams & Medway PH Team

Kindly sponsored by NIHR.

Winner: Sally Cartwright & Luton PH Team

In partnership with the University of Bedfordshire and the voluntary and community sector, the team undertook research to give insight into the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on specific BAME communities in Luton. The research involved community researchers, who helped recruit participants from the community and the project, called Talk, Listen, Change (TLC), found wide ranging barriers to accessing health services, mental health support, culturally appropriate physical activity, communications methods, self-help and resilience.

Three years on, they continue to host a TLC working group embedding their findings across work programmes. As well as ongoing promotion of the findings, they have delivered physical activity community outreach, culturally adapted CBT and are developing a network of community connector roles. The research also set the groundwork of Luton’s Marmot Town work, has led to a funded ‘TLC’ PhD post, and an agreement for University dissertation students to undertake ‘TLC’ research.

This award recognises a public health team for how they have worked together to improve public health in their area.

Shortlisted nominees:

• Cornwall & Isles of Scilly PH Team
• Cheshire East Council Health Protection Team
• Rochdale PH & Wellbeing Team

Kindly sponsored by Public Health Jobs.

Winner: Cheshire East Council Health Protection Team

Cheshire East Council Health Protection Team were awarded the Team Award this year in recognition of their partnerships with each other, the wider Council and external stakeholders to maximise their impact and provide support. There are many examples of them going above and beyond their defined role, including:

• Delivering training on hydration and sepsis to care homes.
• Providing personal translation support to residents of asylum seeker hotels during a major TB screening exercise.
• Teaching public health to local sixth form students.
• Holding an event to encourage GP registration, health checks and Covid-19 vaccination in the East Timorese community.

The team are effective, responsive, well-led and work collaboratively across the system to ensure patients and residents are safe, and their way of working together has made this small team’s impact much greater than the sum of its parts.