The Institute carries out research into the health of individuals and communities
We’ve really got to find more ways to reach men and women in their workplace and in places where they spend their leisure time and socialise
ing with the Hamara Healthy Living Centre in Leeds, which caters for black and ethnic minority communities, and Wakefi eld Council on a project which looks at area working, and a project in Bradford looking at the links between breastfeeding and obesity.
How are you funded? Most of the funding comes from grants that we bid for. Some of our work is funded by the university – but of course higher education is changing and an inevitable reduction in undergraduate students as a result of government pol- icy changes will mean that income to support teaching is going to reduce. It’s a competitive environment out
there, but we’ve worked hard to forge links with government offi ces and healthcare bodies locally and nation- ally and will continue to do so. Also, the fact that our work is so vis- ible within the community makes us more attractive to potential funding communities and partners.
What is your day-to-day role at the Institute?
My role as director is to ensure that the Institute grows, and that it grows in relation to funding – funding is very important to our survival.
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Another key task is external network- ing with partners locally, nationally and internationally. I also act as a director of research for the whole of the fac- ulty – the Institute is just one part of the university’s health research work, which involves around 250 staff.
What is your background? I am still a registered nurse, and have worked in Accident and Emergency and gastro-surgery. From there I went into nurse teaching in the late 1990s for two years before being headhunted by the Department of Health as nurs- ing offi cer for education and training in Leeds. From there I became dean of faculty in social care at Hull University before returning to Leeds to become dean of faculty of health at Leeds Met and now the director of our Institute.
What do you see as the main health and wellbeing challenges in the UK? Clearly we have the epidemics, like obesity and coronary heart disease, which are not getting any better. There is a big gender element in rela- tion to death rates, and many of those deaths are preventable, but so much more needs to be done. Men’s health is pretty bad. We know that in Leeds, you’ll live an average of
13 years longer if you live in Weatherby [a relatively affl uent area] as opposed to Harehills [a more deprived area]. Another big killer is mental health, which is still a taboo. The number of suicides is on the increase, but if someone has been to see their GP they are less likely to kill themselves. Also, as a result of our work with
men’s health and the Premier League we’re considering exploring how stress and depression is managed within sport – something that the recent death of Wales manager Gary Speed has highlighted.
What do you see as the way forward? There’s a big challenge around how we’re going to tackle the public health agenda. So many interventions can be undertaken at a local and national level, but I’m not sure the resources are there at the moment. Take GP surgeries, which are tradi- tionally open in the day from Monday to Friday, meaning that people have to take time off work to visit them. We’ve really got to fi nd more ways to reach men and women in the work- place and also places where they spend their leisure time and socialise, and start to deliver health and well- ness services in a different way.
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