13:00 - 14:00, Thursday 6th June 2024

Health inequalities are avoidable, unfair and systematic differences in health between different groups of people. They are rooted deep within our society, and they are widening, leading to disparate outcomes, varied access to services, and poor experiences of care. This results in earlier deaths, lost years of healthy life, intergenerational effects from traumatic experiences, and has significant economic costs for society.

Join Professor Jim McManus, National Director of Health and Wellbeing, Public Health Wales and former President of the UK Association of Directors of Public Health, in conversation with William Roberts, Chief Executive, Royal Society for Public Health, as they discuss the burning issues behind health inequalities in today’s changing world.

In this webinar Jim and William will debate the key drivers of health inequalities in the UK, including why efforts to reduce inequalities in health have stalled, what needs to be done, and how public health professionals can respond to health inequalities at a local level?

Speaker: Professor Jim McManus, National Director of Health and Wellbeing Public Health Wales 

Jim McManus is National Director of Health and Wellbeing for Public Health Wales.

Until joining Public Health Wales he was President of ADPH which represents the professional voice of Directors of Public Health across the UK. For 11 and a half years he was Executive Director of Public Health for Hertfordshire. He served on the Board of ADPH for 9 years in various roles including Vice-President, leading on Covid policies, Sector Led Improvement, Drugs and Alcohol, Sexual Health and HIV; Drug Treatment and Suicide Prevention.

Jim is a Visiting Professor at the University of Hertfordshire, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol and an Honorary Vice-President of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. 

He was a co-founder of the Behavioural Science in Public Health Network and a co-author of the National Strategy for Behavioural Science in Public Health (2018) 

He has been policy lead for ADPH on drugs and alcohol, public mental health, suicide prevention and sexual health. On behalf of ADPH he was a Member of the Ministerial Advisory Group for the National Drug Strategy, a member of the Steering Group for the NIHR Policy Research Unit at the University of Newcastle, a Member of the Advisory Group for the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a Member of the Oversight Group for the England HIV Action Plan.

In 2011 he was awarded the Good Samaritan Medal for Excellence in Healthcare by Pope Benedict XVI, the highest honour for healthcare the Vatican can award.

Chair: William Roberts, Chief Executive, Royal Society for Public Health

William Roberts joined RSPH as the Chief Executive at the end of June 2022. Joining from the Innovation Unit as Director of Health Inequalities, Impact and Learning.

Previously William has been a senior leader in the NHS across roles in public health, strategy, transformation and planning. He is a registered nurse who has worked in both hospital and community services, and as a nurse specialist in tuberculosis and HIV.

William is Deputy Chair of the Terrence Higgins Trust and a Non- Executive Director of Housing 21 and POBL - two large housing and care providers. He brings a wealth of experience across public health and inequalities from the NHS, third sector, social care, housing, local government and further education to RSPH.