While travelling to work in the morning, I suppose it’s not that unusual for health professionals to see some of their patients going about their business. I know I do. In fact, I see hundreds of them. Except they’re not really my patients, but simply the residents of Bracknell Forest, the health of whom I work to improve every day.
As a public health consultant for a local council my job is all about protection and potential. I work to protect the public against infectious disease (whether they be passed on by sneezing or sex) while supporting them to reach their health potential through quitting smoking, getting physically active or eating healthily. In any one day I need to be a health scientist, commissioner, campaigner, psychologist, economist and stats geek. My first task each day is to check the media for health news stories. Barely a week goes by without a call from local radio wanting to know our views on the latest story. One week it was whether chocolate can save you from a heart attack, while another week it was why older people are now drinking more alcohol than young people. If they call, I usually have 30 minutes to get my facts straight and practise my posh radio voice (not easy for a girl from north Liverpool).

My mornings also usually involve work on our latest health campaign. We always aim to be positive rather than nagging – celebrating success rather than predicting doom and gloom. So rather than banging on about how obesity will kill you, we’ll show people how good it feels to get physically active. My team always tries to ensure that our campaigns involve me dressing up in something silly. Recently, my work outfits have included everything from an orange wig (anaphylaxis campaign) to a full length cigarette suit (Stoptober). I’m dreading the next sexual health campaign! Of course it’s no good raising awareness of these issues through campaigns if we then don’t support people to make positive changes. I spend some time each day ensuring that our health improvement services are running well. Our stop smoking programme, health check initiatives and weight management courses have been nominated for four national awards this year, with significant increases in uptake and success rates. To these we’ve added services tailored to specific groups, such as falls prevention programmes for our older residents and online counselling for younger people. The aim is simple, if you live in Bracknell Forest and want to make a positive change in your life, then there is someone nearby to help you do it. Of course, public health teams can’t do this alone. Public health work is essentially collaborative, and most days I will meet with many of the other agencies that we work with to deliver health improvements. These include our local clinical commissioning group, NHS services, social care, and even the fire & rescue service (who are working with us on our falls prevention programme). Evenings will often see me in the council chamber. Since public health moved from the NHS into local government, I now work for politicians, and I’ll go along and face the scrutiny of my elected members. While this ‘big P’ politics part of my job can be scary, it’s not half as bad as the small ‘p’ politics. Public health operates today within the context of the nanny state debate, which at times can get fierce and personal. Once, after writing an article in a national newspaper about protecting people using mental health services from second-hand tobacco smoke I received a tide of hate mail. One chap called me a ‘left-wing, do-gooder, fascist bitch!’. Luckily, I had my husband on hand to support me, telling me “well love, you can’t argue with that last bit about being a bitch’. Where would I be without him? Despite having such a busy job, there is always time for reflection. For me, that’s usually in the car on the way home, or during my evening run (often more of a slow stagger). It’s at these times I face the same anxiety – that the job is just too big! There’s more we could be doing to improve people’s health, if only we had the time and resources. There is more that could be achieved through public health work and I constantly feel that we’re only scratching at the surface of that potential. Still, there’s always tomorrow. Another day – and another silly costume.

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