Who are you and how long have you been a civil servant?
My name is Fiona Reynolds and I’m Deputy Regional Director with the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (part of DHSC). I’ve been with the Civil Service since 2020 and prior to that was employed by the NHS 🏥 and Local Authorities 🏛️, working in Public Health, for almost twenty years.
What were you doing before you became a civil servant?
Interesting question – especially when you look at the definition of a civil servant (employed by national government and executive agencies). I was a public servant, for sure, as mentioned working in the NHS 🏥 and in local government. My last role was as a Director of Public Health (DPH) in a council, which means I was jointly appointed by my employer and by the
of State for Health and Social Care… and that means technically, I think, that I was a civil servant for five years before joining Public Health England – North West (PHE NW).
How did you get into the civil service?
I joined PHE NW in April 2020 – as the Covid-19 Pandemic 🦠 started. I resigned my job as DPH to go travelling for a year in August 2019. The eagle-eyed may be guessing what happened next… The World Health Organisation declared a Pandemic in March 2020, and this rather closed down international travel, so I left Bangkok and returned home with a job offer 📞 to work with PHE NW supporting the regional pandemic response. As the next six months of my travelling plans were cancelled and being a public health professional during a pandemic, I obviously accepted the offer.
Where do you currently work and what does your day-to-day role involve? 📊
I work in the North West of England and my role is to support the Public Health System in this region. This means a number of things for my day-to-day work mostly shaped by the context in which I work.
The Regional Director of Public Health is jointly appointed between the NHS and DHSC, so our team includes people directly employed by the NHS and also by DHSC to enable the Regional Director to fulfil their duties. Public Health matters can cover a wide range of topics and within the North West Team, we are divided into three functions: analysis (data) 📊, health improvement (obesity, smoking 🚬, alcohol) and health care public health (the NHS role in preventing ill health).
Within the regional system, Public Health professionals are employed in several settings: Local Authorities, NHS, voluntary sector and others. My work is predominantly to support the DsPH and their teams in our 24 councils. There are also Directors and teams working in our three NHS Integrated Care Bodies and within hospitals 🏥, and our wider team provides support in this sector.
I lead on several areas of work that include statutory duties regarding the assurance of the Public Health Grant that goes to Local Authorities as well as supporting the collective priorities of the North West DsPH – for example, tobacco 🚬, vaping, alcohol, climate change 🌍 and sustainability.
What have been the key experiences, skills or lessons learnt that have shaped your career so far? 🎤
My career has been shaped by other people’s suggestions. I’m maintaining their anonymity, to protect the innocent, but the timeline looks like this:
- Age 16: “Why don’t you do journalism because you’re good at English?” said a school friend of the same age attending the same comprehensive school as me. That got me as far as university where I did indeed study journalism, when:
- Age 20: “Why don’t you stand for election as Women’s Officer?” That would get me some understanding of health issues as I had decided by this point, I wanted to work as a health reporter.
- Age 22: “Why don’t you do a Masters in Health Promotion?” because, as Women’s Officer, I was now working on health improvement initiatives.
- Age 23: “Apply for the job you want and ignore the fact they sent you the wrong job application,” which got me my first job in the NHS (combining my qualifications in journalism and health promotion).
- Age 25: “Come and work over here – this job has your name all over it.” This person wasn’t the employer but sending me the advert got me to my second job, where:
- Age 26: “Why don’t you apply to the Public Health Training Scheme?” said my boss, and approximately five years later:
- Age 32: “You should apply for this role,” said my educational supervisor and I got my first Consultant post where almost five years later…
- Age 36: “Have you seen this advert?” which led me to my second post as a Consultant where I ended up as interim Director of Public Health and led me to my second DPH post three years later.
- Age 42: I decided to go travelling ✈️.
- Age 43: “Do you want a job with PHE NW on the Pandemic Response?”
What advice would you give to someone who’s considering working in the civil service and/or in the early stages of their career? 💡
I hope this advice is relevant for wherever you are in your career. It was given to me by a friend when I became interim Director of Public Health and felt hopelessly out of my depth:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."
Arthur Ashe, who said this, was an American tennis player and civil rights activist, as known for his talent on the court as for his commitment to social justice. The point is that small steps 🚀 in the right direction can lead to significant progress and that action is often the key to success.
The vast majority of the suggestions I described in the previous section were made by my friends 👥 – at least two of them were made by pals who did not work in the sectors that I was applying to (or even work, as we were kids at the time). Build genuine connections, friendships and working relationships with people – these will be the people who know you best, who may spot an opportunity and immediately think of you. Opportunities usually arrive when you’re not actively looking for them – you just need one person to have you in mind when they see them.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or opinions – people love giving those – and you’ll get some good insight 💬. You’re not obliged to take advice that doesn’t work with your values or interests, but do act on good pointers.