South Glos Director of Public Health Sara Blackmore joins Stroke HIT

Sara Blackmore, Director of Public Health at South Gloucestershire Council, has joined the Stroke Health Integration Team (HIT) as a Director.

Sara worked in NHS commissioning and public health roles for 10 years before joining the Public Health Specialty Registrar training programme. She has worked at South Gloucestershire Council since 2013 as a Consultant and Deputy Director of Public Health. From December 2017 Sara worked with Mark Pietroni job-sharing the role of Director of Public Health for South Gloucestershire and in January 2019 took over the role on a full-time basis. Sara works to deliver public health activities and influence across the council and with partners across the system such as the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (BNSSG CCG).

She takes over the Director role in the Stroke HIT from Mark. She said:

“I’m excited to be joining the Stroke HIT at a time when there’s significant work happening on the stroke pathway across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. My priorities will be ensuring patient and carer voices are heard, focusing research on improved stroke care and developing educational tools and resources. I feel privileged to be joining this dynamic HIT, where I know progress will be made and improvements seen by people living in our region.”

Phil Clatworthy, Stroke HIT co-Director, said:

“We are delighted that Sara
has joined the Stroke HIT leadership team. Sara brings an exciting
new dimension to the HIT’s work on promoting health and wellbeing and
preventing stroke, and cements our relationship with local authorities across
the region, enabling us to work in close partnership across public health,
health care and adult social care.”