Public health

Overview

The Royal Free London has a small public health team working across the Trust. We aim to improve physical and mental health outcomes, promote wellbeing and reduce health inequalities across the population and communities we serve, within and beyond the hospital walls. We do this by working with our staff, patients, communities and the wider health and care system. 

We have a strong focus on measuring and reporting on inequalities. Routine monitoring of inequalities is important to identify problems, focus on areas to change and monitor the impact of our actions. By taking a data driven approach, we aim to identify the drivers of ill health and which populations are most affected. We can then use this insight to improve outcomes and patient experience and reduce health inequalities. 

Smoking, alcohol and obesity are major contributors to preventable ill health (e.g. cancer, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease). They are also major causes of inequalities in health. We work closely with our colleagues within the Trust and with communities outside the hospital to improve lifestyles and make healthy choices the easy choices.  

The team

Joint director of public health, Dr Tamara Djuretic works across Royal Free London and London Borough of Barnet. The Royal Free London deputy director of public health is Dr Judith Stanton. We are an accredited training team and host public health registrars, population health fellows and GP fellows. The public health team sits in the corporate arm of the group and reports to Dr Gillian Smith, group Chief Medical Officer. 

The team works across the Trust and with a wide range of internal and external partners, to improve population health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. We work with integrated care partnerships to embed prevention across pathways, develop plans to ensure RFL is an effective anchor institution and promotes equity in access and outcome.

Royal Free London: Population Health Committe Annual Report April 2023

Royal Free London: Population Health Committe Annual Report April 2022

Royal Free London: Population Health Committe Annual Report April 2021

Royal Free London Group Population Health Approach

To find out more about the work of the public health team, email: rfl.publichealth@nhs.net

Our buildings and their grounds

We take pride in the environment from which we treat our patients, including our hospital grounds.

If you have any comments or concerns relating to the environment at any of our sites, please email: rf.environment@nhs.net