Better Health For All

I joined the Faculty of Public Health a year ago. I work across health and transport sectors but hadn’t ever joined a professional body before. Going to the Faculty of Public Health conference in Peebles in 2016 and 2018 broadened my interest in Public Health.

I joined FPH and attended an Introduction to Pubic Health event in London and then a training day in Manchester, led by Professor Gurch Randhawa from University of Bedfordshire on evaluation of joint interventions.

I was really enthused by the course run by FPH and liked the idea of inviting Professor Randhawa to Aberdeen and it was a very enjoyable experience working with FPH to arrange delivery of the course.

We had 25 attendees on the day and the event was held in the Beach Ballroom, a real Ballroom by the beach if you ever visit Aberdeen. The event took place on May 16 and the feedback has been extremely positive. Many of the attendees felt it should be re-run for the benefit of my Health & Transport Action Plan Steering Group members.

My advice to anyone thinking about joining the Faculty is to do so, it will certainly introduce you to new colleagues. Personally, I’ve found it helpful to belong to something collective as my role can be isolating at times.

I’ll end with thanking Nikol and Gurch for helping arrange the event and support my work around adding strategic value to partnership working across health and transport issues. I also thank CIVITAS PORTIS and Nestrans for funding the event, making it free for attendees.

Written by Andrew Stewart, Aberdeenshire Council (post jointly funded by NHS Grampian and Nestrans)