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The annual Haygarth Lecture was established in 2005 by public health teams across the region.

It celebrates the legacy of 18th Century physician Dr John Haygarth, who pioneered disease control measures. Described as 'Clinical Investigator - Apostle of Sanitation', he helped stem a smallpox epidemic threatening the city's population in the late 1700s whilst practising Medicine at Chester Royal Infirmary.

The lectures are a joint collaboration between the University of Chester and the Department of Public Health at Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The next lecture takes place on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at the Queen's Park Campus, CH4 7AD at 6.30pm.

Being prepared for future health hazards

By Professor Dame Jenny Harries

UKHSA was established to keep the nation safe from wide-ranging threats to our health security, while driving scientific innovation to prepare for and respond to current and future challenges.

To book in person:

https://Haygarthinperson.eventbrite.com

To book online: 

https://Haygarthonline.eventbrite.com

The most recent lecture  was

David Hunter Emeritus Professor of Health Policy and Management, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University

Desperately Seeking Solutions: What is the point of the English NHS White Paper?

The recent White Paper, “Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all” identifies structural reforms and new approaches for collaboration, and opportunities to build on the NHS long term plan. This year’s Haygarth Lecture will explore the opportunities and challenges involved in accelerating and fostering positive change in health and social care as we emerge from the Covid19 pandemic.

The lecture will be followed by a Q and A panel discussing the White Paper. 

To access a recording of the lecture click here

Previous speakers include:

Poppy Jaman OBE, CEO City Mental Health Alliance, NED Public Health England

“Sit down you’re rocking the boat”: the future of public mental health leadership

Professor Mitch Blair, Professor of Paediatrics and Child Public Health, IMperial College London, UK Consultant Paediatrician.

"How are the Kids?" - taking a population perspective on child health in the 21st century.

Professor Paul Lincoln OBE

Non Communicable Diseases - a preventable catastrophe

Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death, ill health, disability and health inequalities.  They are known to be the by-product of market and state failures.  Most preventable NCD’s are interlinked as they share common causes and disease processes.  They therefore share the same preventive solutions.  

NCD’s are relatively new health challenges and the most effective preventive solutions are now well understood. However this requires new mechanisms and approaches at international, national and local levels, to protect and promote the public’s health.

A link to this lecture is here

Anne Longfield OBE, Children's Commissioner for England

The title of the lecture was Securing the Emotional Health, Resilience and Wellbeing of Young People

To view the lecture click here

Anne Longfield OBE was appointed Children's Commissioner for England in March this year. As Children’s Commissioner she has legal responsibility for representing the views and interests of the nation’s 12 million children to the decision-makers who can make a difference to their lives. She must also promote and protect their rights. Her work must, in particular, focus on vulnerable groups of children.

Anne is a leading figure in the children’s sector with over 30 years’ experience of and expertise in shaping the national policy agenda and delivering services to children and families. She is passionate about championing children’s interests and improving their lives and has led numerous high profile national campaigns, inquiries, commissions and research programmes that have effected positive change for children.

Prior to becoming Children’s Commissioner, Anne was Chief Executive of  4Children during which time she spent time advising the Government on children and family policy in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit at Cabinet Office.

 Workforce Health Investment - Worthwhile? by Dame Carol Black

Dame Carol Black is Principal of Newnham College Cambridge, Adviser on Work and Health at the Department of Health, England, Chair of the Nuffield Trust, and Chair of the Governance Board, Centre for Workforce Intelligence.

As Expert Adviser to the Department of Health, Dame Black plays a major ambassadorial role, building and promoting the public and policy position on the positive relationship between work and health. She is Chair of the Health at Work network, part of the UK Government's Public Health Responsibility Deal, established to engage commercial, public and third sector organisations in improving public health.

To view the lecture click here

Richard Wilkinson, Inequality: the Enemy Between Us
Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology, University of Nottingham Medical School and co-author of The Spirit Level.

To access the video of the lecture click here

Ben Page, 'Nurture, Nature, Nanny, Nudge'
The Power of Public Opinion and Data in Influencing Health Behaviour Change

Ben Page is Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI. He joined MORI in 1987 after graduating from Oxford University in 1986, and was one of the leaders of its first management buyout in 2000. A frequent writer and speaker on leadership and performance management, he has directed hundreds of surveys examining service delivery, customer care and communications.

To access the slides from the lecture please click here

Cormac Russell, Community Assets Determine our Health and Wellbeing Far More than Access to Healthcare. Cormac Russell is Managing Director of Nurture Development, Director of ABCD Europe and a faculty member of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University, Chicago. He has trained communities, agencies, non-government organisations and governments in Asset Based Community Development. Nurture Development has worked with local authorities, community groups, businesses and other statutory and voluntary agencies over the last decade to develop workable and cost effective solutions to some of the most pressing social and economic challenges they face.

The Right Honorable Frank Field MP, DL, The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children Becoming Poor Adults considered a central political question of how to maintain a necessary degree of social order while embracing social and economic change. In a country where parenting is undergoing such change, and parenting is crucial to the building of the type of character essential for social order, the lecture considers what the role of the Foundation Years must be in supporting the endeavours of parents.

Professor Lindsey Davies CBE, the Department of Health's National Director of Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, offered an insight into the business continuity challenges posed by the current outbreak of Swine 'Flu, during the fourth Haygarth Public Health Lecture for Cheshire at the University of Chester held in December 2009. Entitled 'Preparing for Pandemics - how far should we go?', Professor Davies's lecture evaluated the UK's readiness to anticipate, and react to, the changing situation globally and locally.

Details of other previous lectures can be viewed here.