England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer visits Bristol to learn about public health innovation

Our Sexual Health Improvement (SHIP) HIT members were delighted to meet Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, on 9 October.

The meeting was part of a day hosted by Bristol City Council to showcase public health improvement work taking place in the city – from drug and alcohol services to sexual health programmes.

In the morning, Dr de Gruchy spent time with the Common Ambition Bristol team to learn about its award-winning, community-led approach to increasing HIV testing and reducing stigma within African and Caribbean heritage communities living in Bristol.

Presenters included SHIP HIT members Dr Jo Copping (Bristol City Council), Professor Jeremy Horwood and Dr Catherine Dodds (University of Bristol), Matt Wilson and Rami Ghali (Brigstowe), and Rachel Allbless (Bristol Health Partners).

Jo and Rami are also co-chairs of the Fast-track Cities Bristol ‘tackling stigma’ workstream.

Rachel said:

“It was an honour to speak with Dr de Gruchy about the inspiring work Common Ambition Bristol is doing to improve people’s sexual health here in our city. We hope this visit helps speed up efforts across the country to break down the stigma around HIV.

“Since launching in 2021, Common Ambition Bristol has taught us a lot about working with communities to tackle health inequalities. It’s exciting to see this approach now being recognised to address other health issues that disproportionately impact racially minoritised groups.”

Shared learning

Common Ambition Bristol has produced a toolkit to help service providers to co-produce more equitable health services. Download the toolkit (PDF).