School of Public Health

Welcome to the School of Public Health

Health Education England, North West

An introduction from the Head of School, Rebecca Wagstaff 

I am delighted to introduce the North West School of Public Health to you.

The North West School of Public Health training placements are grouped into three geographies – Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside, and Cumbria and Lancashire. An individual Specialty Registrar will normally be based in one of these geographies throughout their training. However, they might take advantage of special training opportunities in other geographies within the North West or elsewhere in the UK, especially later in training.

All North West School of Public Health Specialty Registrars complete the MPH at Liverpool University in their first year. As Head of School, I am very privileged to be supported by three zonal Programme Directors who each have one half day per week to develop the portfolios of training locations in Cumbria and Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and Cheshire and Merseyside.

The School of Public Health is part of Health Education England and serves the whole of the North West of England. We train and educate public health experts and leaders to serve the people of the North West and beyond. Training in Public Health is multidisciplinary: about half of our Specialty Registrars are from a medical background, and half from other professions. Our graduates hold jobs in a wide variety of organisations that have public health as their focus, including Local Authorities, the NHS, academic organisations and Public Health England.

The School of Public Health is one of the Specialty Schools in Health Education England. We follow HEE policies and processes that meet the standards and guidance for training in place from the United Kingdom General Medical Council. The Public Health curriculum is designed by the Faculty of Public Health, our responsible professional college.

There are currently over 50 Specialty Registrars on the public health training programme. We have over 30 accredited training locations in local authorities, Public Health England, NHS trusts and other more specialised locations. The School relies on approximately 80 accredited educational and academic supervisors to support and direct registrars through training.

Head of School

Dr Rebecca Wagstaff 

Deputy Director -Health and Wellbeing

PHE Cumbria and Lancashire

2nd Floor County Hall (Pitt Street reception)

Preston  PR1 8XB

T: 0344 225 0562 

M: 07501 269 662

E: rebecca.wagstaff5@nhs.net 

Associate Dean

Professor Simon Carley

Based at HEE's North West Office, Three Piccadilly Place

Email: simon.carley@nhs.net

Training Programme Directors

North West School of Public Health Support Team