Ruth has worked at St Helens Borough Council since 2019 and became Director of Public Health in April 2021. Her background is nursing and health visiting. She also spent a few years in South Africa where she provided palliative care to HIV and AIDs patients in a poor, rural community. 

After returning to the UK, Ruth studied for a Masters in Applied Public Health and worked in several roles across the north of England before joining St Helens Borough Council where she initially specialised in social prescribing and early help, as well as taking lead roles on sexual, workplace, children’s and mental health. She took a lead role in coordinating the Covid-19 response during the pandemic for St Helens.  She has a subregional lead role for mental wellbeing and suicide prevention. 

She is passionate about protecting the most vulnerable in society and about tackling health inequalities. She believes that in some cases poverty can be the cause of poor health in individuals, something which is being made worst by the current cost of living crisis. As well as wanting to ensure high quality service provision she focuses on prevention, resilience and tackling the root causes of issues.