As Directors of Public Health for Cheshire & Merseyside, we are committed to working in the best way possible to achieve better health outcomes. We are very proud of our nationally recognised collaborative way of working which brings great benefits for all.
We look forward to building on the achievements made so far and to continue working together with our public health teams and partners to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities and achieve better health outcomes.
Director for Health and Wellbeing (DPH) - Wirral
Email: juliewebster@wirral.gov.uk
Marriss House
Hamilton Street
Birkenhead
CH41 5AL
Wirral Council Cabinet Member for Adult Care Health & Wellbeing: Cllr Christine Jones
Wirral - Public Health Annual Report
Director of Public Health Lead: Alcohol Harm, Licensing & Commissioning
Julie moved to Wirral in 2012 as Head of Public Health and is currently the Acting Director for Health and Wellbeing. Julie takes the lead on the Healthier Lives pledge in the Wirral Plan. Julie’s career in Public Health began in 1998 and she has worked for the NHS and local councils in Cheshire and Merseyside. She has a particular interest in the use of insight to develop public health interventions and is a strong advocate of social justice and the role of the citizen in local services. Julie is the DPH lead for work to tackle alcohol misuse and is involved in local research on the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol.
Acting Director of Public Health, Cheshire East Council
Email: Matt.Tyrer@cheshireeast.gov.uk
Westfields
Middlewich Road
Sandbach
CW11 1HZ
Tel: 01270 686883
Cheshire East Council Cabinet Member for Public Health: Cllr Jill Rhodes
Cheshire East - Public Health Annual Report
Matt leads the public health team at Cheshire East Council. Before becoming the Acting Director of Public Health he led on health protection and the wider determinants of health as a Consultant in Public Health at Cheshire East Council since 2017. Before beginning his career in public health in 2013 Matt worked as a junior doctor. He gained his Masters in Public Health from the University of Birmingham in 2014 and worked in public health teams across the West Midlands before joining Cheshire and Merseyside. He is focussed on building sustainable communities and places, built on sound public health intelligence, in order to reduce inequity and to bring people and neighbourhoods together to address the wider determinants of health and wellbeing.
Matt is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and an Honorary Lecturer in Public Health at Keele University, he is also an examiner for Keele Medical School.
Director of Public Health Cheshire West and Chester
Email: Ian.Ashworth@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
1st Floor, HQ,
58 Nicholas Street,
Chester,
CH1 2NP
Cheshire West and Chester Cabinet member for Adult Social Care & Public Health: Cllr Val Armstrong
Cheshire West and Chester - Public Health Annual Report
Vice Chair of Directors of Public Health Executive Board & Director of Public Health Lead: Sexual Health Commissioning Pilot
Ian was appointed Director of Public Health for Cheshire West and Chester Council in June 2017.
He has a background in delivering nationally recognised health improvement programmes within Local Authorities and NHS Trusts across the North West. Having completed his MPH at the University of Liverpool in 2009, Ian then commenced specialist public health training across Greater Manchester in 2010.
Joining Salford City Council’s Public Health team in 2014, he was responsible for leading and managing the directorates commissioning spend and its innovative arrangement with Salford CCG. As the prevention lead for Salford’s nationally recognised integrated care system, his leadership resulted in the City achieving the World Health Organisation Age Friendly City status and enabled it to become a successful demonstrator site for the National Diabetes Prevention programme.
Ian is now responsible for developing vibrant and healthy communities across Cheshire West and Chester with the aim of increasing inclusive leisure, heritage and culture opportunities recognising the many health benefits that this creates.
As a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and the lead DPH for sexual health in Cheshire and Merseyside, Ian is also overseeing the national Public Health England pilot for collaborative sexual health commissioning.
Director of Public Health for Knowsley Council
Email: sarah.mcnulty@knowsley.gov.uk
Sarah joined Public Health Knowsley in 2009, initially specialising in Health Protection and Healthcare Public Health. Since June 2019 she has been Director of Public Health.
Sarah has led a number of cross-sector programmes and is the Champs DPH Lead for Screening and Immunisations, Diabetes and High Blood Pressure. She is also the Co-Chair of the Merseyside Local Health Resilience Partnership (LHRP).
Director of Public Health - Liverpool City Council
Email: Matthew.Ashton@liverpool.gov.uk
Liverpool City Council
Dale Street,
Liverpool, L2 2DH
Tel: 0151 233 1106
Liverpool Council Cabinet member for Social Care & Health: Cllr Paul Brant
Liverpool - Public Health Annual Report
Director of Public Health Lead: Strategic Intelligence & Partnerships, Employment & Skills, Communications and Workforce & CPD, LCR Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)
Matt was appointed Director of Public Health for Liverpool in April 2020, having previously held the Director of Public Health post at Sefton Council for 4 years, and prior to that at Knowsley Council.
Matt is the lead advisor on all aspects of Health and Wellbeing for the City, and heads up a team of people whose current priorities include response and recovery to COVID-19, best start in life, mental health & wellbeing, and the Liverpool City Region Wealth and Wellbeing programme.
Matt also works closely with Liverpool CCG, Liverpool Health Partners, and the University of Liverpool, and holds an Honorary Professor position in the Department of Public Health and Policy.
Director of Public Health - St Helens
Email: SusanForster@sthelens.gov.uk
St Helens Council
Public Health
Atlas House
Corporation Street
St Helens, WA9 1LD
Tel: 01744 673232
St Helens Council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care & Health: Cllr Marlene Quinn
St Helens - Public Health Annual Report
Chair of Directors of Public Health Executive Board and Public Health Lead: Suicide Prevention
Sue is Director of Public Health for St Helens Council leading on Public Health and Wellbeing which includes Public Health, Integrated Children’s Commissioning, Arts and Culture, Libraries, Adult Community Learning, the Youth and Music Service.
Sue has worked in Public Health since 1993 when she joined Sefton Health Authority to support population health analysis. In 2000 she joined the Public Health Training scheme where she trained in East and South Lancashire before getting her first substantive post at West Lancashire PCT.
Sue moved to St Helens in 2004 and has worked as a public health consultant since that time moving to the council in 2013.
Sue is passionate about public health in particular addressing health and social inequalities. Her particular interests are suicide prevention, early detection and secondary prevention disease of long term conditions. She is the lead on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the development of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Director of Public Health - Halton & Interim Director of Public Health - Warrington
Email: eileen.omeara@halton.gov.uk
Halton Borough Council
Runcorn Town Hall
Heath Road
Runcorn
WA7 5TD
Tel: 0151 511 6848
Halton Council Portfolio holder for Health & Wellbeing: Cllr Marie Wright
Halton - Public Health Annual Report
Director of Public Health Lead: Health Protection & Health & Care Partnership
Eileen O’Meara is Director of Public Health and Public Protection for Halton and Clinical Lead for Population Health for Cheshire and Merseyside Health Care Partnership. She has over 20 years national and international experience working at a senior level for PHE, the NHS, WHO, UNICEF and as an independent consultant. She is the Association of Directors of Public Health North West representative, the Chair of Cheshire Local Health Resilience Partnership, the CHAMPS lead DPH for children and young people and the lead Mersey DPH for the Liverpool City Region Commission for Child Poverty. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians.
