Viv Bennett, the director of nursing at Public Health England, has been awarded a CBE for her services to nursing, alongside a host of other prominent healthcare professionals.
Professor Bennett received the honour for her role as the government’s principal advisor on public health nursing and midwifery. She was appointed as director of nursing at Public Health England in 2013, after having joined the Department of Health as deputy chief nursing officer in 2007. She is also a visiting professor at Kings University.
'I am personally deeply humbled to be recognised in this way,' said Ms Bennett. 'I am thrilled to accept the Honour as recognition of the amazing work that nurses and midwives are doing to protect and improve health and wellbeing in our society.'
Other nurses who were recognised included David William Prout, perinatal community mental health nurse at the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, who was honoured for services to community mental health nursing, and Amanda Caroline Howe, professor of primary care at the University of East Anglia, who received the award for services to primary care. 'I am absolutely delighted to be recognised in this way and, although my father is not with us anymore, I know he would have been very proud,' said Mr Prout.
Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of PHE said: ‘I warmly congratulate [the recipients of the honours] for this recognition of their outstanding contribution to protecting and improving the public’s health, both at home in the UK and abroad.’
Other healthcare professionals who received the honours were Tim Brooks, who directs PHE’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory, and was given a CBE for leading the UK laboratory response to outbreak of ebola in West Africa, and Harpal Singh Kumar, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, who was knighted for services to cancer research.