Friday 27th June 2008
(ref:
191/2008)
Wigan Council Chief Executive Joyce Redfearn has welcomed the appointment of Dr Kate Ardern, the new joint council/Ashton Leigh & Wigan Primary Care Trust public health boss.
Dr Arden brings with her a wealth of experience in public health from across Merseyside and Cheshire. In her most recent role as Associate Director of Public Health for NHS Northwest, Dr Arden spearheaded the implementation of the ‘Choosing Health’ agenda, in addition to the health inequalities programme, corporate citizenship and more; she also represented NHS Northwest in Department of Health groups, including pandemic influenza planning and sustainable development.
Wigan Council Chief Executive, Joyce Redfearn, says:
"We want to see health and wellbeing improve in the borough, and Kate's arrival into this joint post will really help us to address those factors that act as barriers to potential, aspiration and a decent quality of life for local people."
The position is the latest in a series of prestigious roles held by Manchester University-educated Dr Ardern, who is determined to get people to ditch their bad habits in favour of a healthy lifestyle.
“We have to turn the attitude around that says that bad health is the norm,” says Dr Ardern, who became one of the country’s first consultants in environmental public health in 1998, only two years after she qualified. “The sad fact is that here in Wigan many people expect to have ill health, whether it be heart disease, diabetes or emphysema. I am here to show them that it need not be an inevitable result of where they live.”
Dr Arden is already showing she means business, and is expecting to see results from the many projects already underway in the area. One such programme, ‘Find and Treat,’ aims to identify those at risk of heart attack or stroke and then to give them preventative treatment to reduce that risk.
Another project will involve Health Trainers providing one-to-one counselling for people who want to combat weight, smoking, drugs or alcohol problems.
In 2002, Dr Arden was appointed to be the first Director of Public Health for the then fledgling South Liverpool PCT. Some three years later, this was followed by a stint as Head of Public Health for the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority.
Peter Rowe, Chief Executive of Ashton, Leigh & Wigan Primary Care Trust commented:
“The appointment of Dr. Ardern will be pivotal in improving life expectancy and well-being for local people, which our PCT is committed to achieve.”
An Honorary Lecturer at Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores Universities, Dr Arden fills any spare time with music, film, theatre and horse riding. A former member of the Halle choir and a student of the Stanislawski method of acting, she would like to produce a film or two one day. In the meantime though, the people of Ashton, Leigh and Wigan can expect positive changes in their lives with Dr Arden at the helm of Public Heath.
