The view from Public Health: Becky Pollard

Becky Pollard, Director of Public Health at Bristol City Council, talks about the benefits of being involved in Bristol Health Partners.

In the past 12 months the Bristol Health Partners collaboration has continued to strengthen, helping to translate cutting edge research into practice for the benefit of the local population.

I have been particularly pleased to see the Health Integration Teams more closely mirroring the priorities of the local health and wellbeing system following a review.

It has also been a busy time for the local authority as we have launched three new health campaigns – Bristol’s Big Drink Debate, Sugar Smart Bristol, and in January Bristol became European City of Sport 2017.

In line with priorities identified by the city’s Health and Wellbeing Board, we have been working with a wide range of partners on these campaigns, helping to spread the message to as broad an audience as possible.

Many of the Bristol Health Partners organisations have been involved, which shows the value of fostering close working relationships across partners. This is echoed in the success of Healthy City Week last year, which provided a valuable opportunity for individuals and organisations to come together to discuss and debate a wide range of current health topics.