In January 2012, Viv was appointed as the Department of Health’s Director of Nursing and the Government’s Principal Advisor on Public Health Nursing, providing high quality and independent nursing advice to ministers and officials on policy issues and public health nursing. She leads the national Health Visiting Programme and School Nurse Development Programme. As of September 2012, Viv was also appointed the Director of Nursing at Public Health England.
She trained as a nurse in Oxford in 1976 and worked in children’s nursing before training as a health visitor in Oxford in the early 1980s. She worked as a health visitor and research health visitor in Oxford whilst studying for a BA and then
Masters degree in health and social policy.
Viv has worked in a number of NHS operational management and commissioning roles and undertaken nurse executive roles in both provider and commissioning organisations. She has also worked for SHA and local government on projects relating to nursing strategy and services for children and families.
Viv joined the Department of Health (DH) as Deputy Chief Nursing Officer in November 2007. She is a Fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Coventry in November 2012.
International Nurses’ Day is celebrated each year on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. Florence herself was described as a social reformer, a statistician and the founder of modern nursing - a blend of public health and nursing that led …
What happens in pregnancy and early childhood impacts on a child’s physical and emotional health all the way into adult life.
Today (May 12) is International Nurses’ Day and I’d like to use this as an opportunity to talk about the role nurses and midwives play in prevention and improving health – particularly with regard to tackling obesity. Obesity is a …
Welcome to the fifth edition of PHE’s Health Matters, a resource for public health professionals, which brings together important facts, figures and evidence of effective interventions to tackle major public health problems. This edition focuses on giving every child the best start …
It’s European Immunisation Week - a great time to celebrate the achievements of everyone who delivers vaccination programmes and highlight the benefit of vaccines throughout life. This week we’re particularly urging professionals who work with young people/young adults to make …
We all want the best start for our children. Protecting babies and infants from illness and disease is crucial and a key priority for PHE. Immunisations are quick, safe and effective. In England we have added to the immunisation schedule …
The health visiting service has been transformed in recent years to improve access, experience, outcomes and contribute to reducing health inequalities. This is the story of what's been achieved through more health visitors and renewed vision. Follow @VivJBennett or https://vivbennett.blog.gov.uk/
In Jan 2015, the Department of Health (DH) and Public Health England (PHE) announced that ‘responsibility for public health nursing and midwifery leadership will transfer to PHE from April, replacing the current joint arrangement between us both. The new arrangements …
As we come to the end of the year it seems timely to use this blog to highlight some of the progress we’ve made in ensuring the roles of nurses and midwives - in health protection and improvement - are …
The ‘best start for all our children’ is vital for a healthy and thriving future society. All the evidence shows us that what happens in early childhood and the developing years’ impacts on health and well-being and life chances throughout …
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