Last updated at 10:18, Monday, 21 January 2013

PROFESSOR John Ashton, director of public health in Cumbria, is stepping down from his role in the county after being given a top job with the Royal College of Physicians.

Prof Ashton will lead the UK Faculty for Public Health (FPH) of the RCP after being elected president for three years from 2013 to 2016.

The FPH sets the standards for specialists in public health across the UK and has 3,000 members drawn from a range of clinical, academic and other public health backgrounds

Professor Ashton, who was awarded the CBE for outstanding service to the NHS, has been in Cumbria for seven years.

Dr Rebecca Wagstaff, Cumbria’s deputy director of public health, will become the county’s interim public health director.

Her new role will involve completing the transfer of local public health responsibilities and staff to Cumbria County Council as part of wider NHS reforms which will see primary care trusts abolished at the end of March.

Ian Gordon, chair of NHS Cumbria, said: “John has been a tremendous leader and advocate for better health in Cumbria.

“Through some of Cumbria’s darkest days, from the terrible floods of 2009 to the appalling shootings in West Cumbria, he has demonstrated great leadership and experience.

“His election to become president of the prestigious UK Faculty of Public Health is well deserved.”

Professor John Ashton said: “I am very honoured to have been elected by my peers to this national position.

“Advancing the cause of public health is something I have dedicated my life to, and I am looking forward to supporting public health consultants and specialists across the UK over the next three years.

“This will also give me the opportunity to influence the public health agenda across government and beyond.

“It has been an enormous privilege to work in Cumbria with so many great people. Leaving what I have loved doing for the last seven years will be hard but I am enormously reassured that public health in Cumbria will be in Dr Rebecca Wagstaff’s hands.”
 

First published at 10:16, Monday, 21 January 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk