The Health Policy Committee is the ‘umbrella’ committee for the entire FPH policy function. We oversee the four other policy committees and all of our Special Interest Groups, meaning we determine, advocate for, and advance policy covering an incredibly wide range of issues of importance to our members and the health and wellbeing of the public.
The committee also supports the FPH President, Officers and Board in setting the strategic direction on matters relating to public health policy and advocacy. We are a decision-making body for the sign-off of a range of activities that our committees and SIGs undertake, from position papers, to consultation responses, reports, evidence-gathering exercises, surveys, media work, and funding applications. We serve as the parent committee for our Public Mental Health Special Interest Group.
Chair: Stephen Watkins, FPH Vice President for Policy
Committee Members:
Nick Gent, Chair Health Protection Committee
Jennifer Mindell, Chair Health Improvement Committee
Carol Brayne, Chair Academic and Research Committee
Chris Packham, Chair Health Services Committee
Christina Gray, Chair Public Mental Health SIG
David Munday
Emilia Crighton
Julie Cavangh
Matt Edmund
Nicole Klynman
A list of the functions and members of the four subcommittees are available below.
The Academic & Research Committee (ARC) is the voice of the academic public health community. It is our role to support a strong academic workforce to produce high quality evidence that can be used to inform policy and widen our understanding of public health issues and interventions. Our quarterly meetings provide a central forum for academics from across the country to come together, network, share ideas, and develop priority areas for the academic public health community to tackle together. We also act as an advisory panel to FPH on academic matters of local, national, and international relevance.
We’re always looking for new members to add expertise and capacity to our committee. We would welcome FPH members to apply to join the committee by emailing: policy@fph.org.uk
Committee Chair/Vice-Chair:
Professor Carol Brayne / Sheena Ramsay
Committee members:
Anne Johnson
Bernie Hannigan
Claudia Langenberg
Helen Walters
Paul Elliot
Rob Aldridge
Jon Shepherd
Jane West
Neil Bendel
Fiona Sim
Dorothy Gregson
Yoav Ben-Shlomo
Martin White
Ruth Bell
David Taylor-Robinson
Derek Ward
Harry Rutter
Julie Parkes
Anna Gilmore
The Health Improvement Committee is the Faculty’s voice on all public health issues related to health improvement and non-communicable disease. We work to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and entire communities by developing new policy, championing evidence-based policy solutions, and working in partnership with government and other organisations to facilitate change.
Our current priorities are: nutrition, obesity, physical activity, transport & the built environment, tobacco control, poverty, and workplace health. We are also leading a project on ‘promoting a culture of health’ and act as the parent committee for a number of FPH Special Interest Groups. We meet quarterly.
You can read our latest blog here.
We’re always looking for new members to add expertise and capacity to our committee. We would welcome FPH members to apply to join the committee by emailing policy@fph.org.uk
Committee Chair:
Professor Jennifer Mindell
Committee members:
Ruth Bell
Charlie Foster
Helen Walters
Jayne Richards
Jim McManus
Jim Brown
Paul Roderick
Jude Stansfield
Mary Dallat
Modi Mwatsama
Raj Bhopal
Stephen Watkins
Steve Maddern
The Health Services Committee represents the views and opinions of FPH members working mostly in healthcare public health roles and ensures that health services public health remains a critical priority area for FPH and other public health bodies. We meet quarterly.
The committee focuses on developing and improving evidence-based healthcare, including the assessment and planning of health need, prevention, quality (safety, outcomes and good patient experience), efficiency (good outcomes per £ spent), value (that the patient or population derive), variation, and equity in health and social care pathways. Our current priority areas include: development opportunities in healthcare public health, advancing healthcare public health training, and providing a governance role for FPH’s Special Interest Groups related to health services.
We’re always looking for new members to add expertise and capacity to our committee. We would welcome FPH members to apply to join the committee by emailing policy@fph.org.uk
Committee Chair:
Chris Packham
Committee members:
Annette Wood
David Black
Ayesha Ali
Hannah Maiden
Ian Bowns
Parul Desai
Fiona Head
Gordon McLaren
Allison Streetly
Sally Pearson
In summer 2018 we joined with the PHE-supported Public Health Provider Network to produce a paper for NHS and STPs to help them develop their 'Population Health' approach to their own business and that of the health communities around them. Our experience is that this helps promote upstream, preventative and public health approaches to NHS planning, healthcare, and staff health. It has been strongly supported by Trust boards wherever it has been developed (upwards of 40 trusts now), and we have found that Public Health Specialists (and importantly trainees) who get closely involved within Trusts environments are warmly welcomed and find the work extremely professionally beneficial. Some NHS trusts have created NHS Consultant in Public Health jobs because of the positive experiences of having CPHs or trainees working closely with them on Population Health frameworks.
To read the paper, click here.
The HSC has also developed a definition of Healthcare Public Health, which you can read here.
The Health Protection Committee
FPH’s Health Protection Committee acts as a source of advice and expertise on health protection policies and issues. We lead for the Faculty on: communicable disease control and delivery of national, regional, and local health protection services; control of biological, chemical, and other environmental hazards; emergency planning and preparedness; and the effects of climate change.
We also provide strategic guidance and oversight in the field of Health Protection to FPH’s membership, external stakeholders, and the public and serve as ‘parent committee’ to a number of FPH Special Interest Groups. We are currently supporting FPH’s Brexit campaign on their work creating a blueprint for our future relationship with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). We meet quarterly.
We would welcome new committee members to increase our expertise and capacity. We have an ambitious work plan that covers developing the future health protection workforce and tackling issues that arise during the Brexit negotiations. If you’re a registrar looking to tick off some learning outcomes or more along in your career, we’d welcome working in partnership with you! To apply to join the committee please email policy@fph.org.uk
Committee Chair:
Nick Gent
Committee members:
Bayad Nozad
Mattea Clarke
Gemma Ward
James Sedgwick
Joanne Darke
David S Edwards
Daniel Chandler
Judith Eling
