New Director of Public Health for the West Midlands Appointed

Announcing the appointment Sir Liam said:

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of the new Directors of Public Health. They will have a key role in leadership for public health at a regional level and will build on the work being carried out as part of the Choosing Health White Paper.

“The new Directors of Public Health will take forward work on the public health function such as improving the health of the population in their area, reducing health inequalities, emergency planning, health protection, clinical quality and patient safety. They will be an asset to Strategic Health Authority and Government Office Boards.”

The new post, one of ten across England comes following the announcement of the reorganised structure of the NHS with fewer strategic health authorities to enable a more streamlined approach to management of the health service.

The new Director of Public Health posts will simplify the current regional public health functions by replacing the roles of Regional Director of Public Health (based at the Government Office) and the former Strategic Health Authority (SHA) Director of Public Health and Medical Director. The Directors will hold Executive Director positions on the boards of both the Strategic Health Authority and the Government Office of that region.

Accepting the position Dr Shukla said:

“I am delighted to accept the position of Director of Public Health for the West Midlands”.

“The West Midlands is a large and diverse region both in terms of its population as well as the many health challenges that it faces. I look forward to building on all of all the excellent work that has already been undertaken to address these challenges”.