New Director of Public Health confirmed for Plymouth

A new Director of Public Health has been announced for Plymouth City Council.

Dr Ruth Harrell, who was previously acting as interim Director, has now been confirmed as the new Director.

Ruth has worked in Plymouth as a Consultant in Public Health for two and a half years, leading on disease prevention and health protection, before she was appointed as Interim Director of Public Health last year. As the Director, Ruth is responsible for a number of key areas including public health, environmental health, trading standards, civil protection, licensing and bereavement services.

Ruth said: “I’m really excited to have been appointed as the new Director of Public Health for Plymouth. There is some fantastic work already taking place here to improve health and reduce health inequalities and I want to continue to build on this with the team and our colleagues and partners.

“We have recently launched Year 3 of Thrive Plymouth, the city’s 10 year campaign to reduce health inequalities in Plymouth, which is focussing on helping people to make those small changes to their lifestyles that can make a huge difference to their health, and we are now planning for future years.”

Councillor Ian Bowyer, Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “I’m really pleased that Ruth has now been officially appointed as Plymouth’s new Director of Public Health. Ruth has done a fantastic job since she took over in October and I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with her to address health inequalities across the city and keep people safe.”

Dr Harrell takes over from Professor Kelechi Nnoaham who left the Council last October.