Two Public Health directors step down
West Sussex County Council has hired another director of public health after the last two resigned.
Dr Tony Hill stepped into the post on a temporary basis from October 21.
He replaces Stephen Horsley, who was also appointed on a temporary basis while the previous director, Anna Raleigh, was on maternity leave.
Now both Ms Raleigh and Mr Horsley have quit and it is expected to take up to six months to find a permanent replacement.
Not having a permanent director in place during a pandemic was described as ‘ extremely worrying’ by Dr James Walsh, leader of the Liberal Democrats, who added that Ms Raleigh had been an ‘exceptionally good’ director.
He added: “The public
need reassurance that, in the current emergency situation, any interim appointee will not only have the appropriate qualifications, but the skill and expertise to help protect our population from the expected upsurge in the virus.”
A county council spokesman said Dr Hill had ‘a wealth of experience having previously been the director of public health in Lincolnshire’ .
His Linkedin profile shows that he left that role in 2016, working as an independent public health consultant and health strategist ever since.
He was made an MBE in 2017.
The spokesman added: “We have already begun our search and we are confident that we will have someone suitable in place within the next six months, subject to market conditions.”
The Covid-19 alert level for the whole of West Sussex is currently medium, with the two other tiers high and very high.
In the fortnight days between September 27 and October 10, 587 people tested positive in West Sussex, according to the county council.
The weekly incidence rate for the first week of October in the county was 37.2 cases per 100,000 population compared to the average across England of 150.1 per 100,000 population.