The Bradford Health of Men team is made up of nurses, health promotion specialists and the staff of ‘Worksafe’, a voluntary body which focuses on safety advice for young people. The core element of lottery funding has enabled H.O.M. to ‘second’ staff from the NHS to develop new and innovative approaches to the delivery of men’s health services, away from traditional locations. The team is co-ordinated at our City Exchange office in the heart of Bradford, by David Newman with administrative support from Chris Andrew.

The creation of the new Bradford and Airedale t.P.C.T. in October 2006 provides further opportunities to develop planning and provision, across the District. Current work reaches out to both boys and men in school, social, community and workplace settings.

The following are brief descriptions of the project’s key-workers. Clicking on highlighted names will open links to interviews with members of the team.  

 

Pete Westwood RN, BA (Hons)

Based at Douglas Mill, Bradford, BD5

Pete is currently a Public Health Practitioner (Men's Health), but has also worked in hospitals, as a District Nurse, within school nursing and as a smoking cessation specialist. He also had a stint as a nursing advisor on ITV’s ‘Where The Heart Is’. He is currently studying at Leeds Metropolitan University for an MSc in Men's Health. As well as continuing his work with smoking cessation he also focuses a large proportion of his work in local schools and also youth work.

In his spare time, Pete is a family man who tries to practice what he preaches regarding his health – to the point of completing a Triathlon in 2005 to raise funds for a mental health charity.  

 

Andrew Harrison RN, BA, BSc (Hons)

Based at Eccleshill, BD 10

Andrew is currently employed by Bradford and Airedale PCT, working as a nurse within the Health of Men project.
He started his nursing career in Manchester and has worked in Accident and Emergency, Orthopaedics, Intensive Care and as a District Nurse/Team leader.

In 2005 he was granted The Queen’s Nursing Institute Innovation and Creative Practice Award for his work with men and weight management.
He is currently studying for an MSc in Men’s Health at Leeds Metropolitan University.

 

Nick Davy RN

Based in Central Bradford

Nick qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1987 and has since worked in general medicine, oncology and terminal care both in England and abroad. He moved to Yorkshire in 1997 and worked in Genito-urinary medicine before starting to work in men's health in 2001. Through the men's health activities Nick became involved with Yorkshire MESMAC (one of the oldest and largest sexual health organisations in the country working with gay men, bisexual men and men who have sex with men) and has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2004. He was a founding member of the BLAST project (Bradford Lads Against the Sex Trade), a group that has researched into and continues to support young men involved in and exploited through prostitution and has a strong interest in sexual health.

In his spare time Nick hopes one day to have climbed all the Munros (mountains over 3000 feet) in Scotland.

 

Dennis Jones BA (Hons), PGCE

Leeds Rd Hospital, BD 3

Dennis currently works part-time for the Health of Men project, concentrating on school work and, in 2006, men and mental well-being. He is based within Bradford District Health Development Partnerships. He delivers HOM services to meet demands in a wide range of locations and actively works with Council and NHS staff on District wide initiatives. A major component of his work is in staff training and development; 2004 saw on-going training provided to residential social workers and foster carers. A focus of this work has been to develop staff’s understanding of sex and relationship issues among boys aged under 18.

Dennis is also an active member of Dad’s United whose primary aim is supporting men as fathers through giving advice, sharing good practice, supporting dad’s talking to their sons /step-sons (e.g. on sex and relationships).

 

Chris Bradley RN, BSc

Steeton, BD 20

Chris is a men’s health nurse. As well as working on a range of projects with the HOM team, he established and currently delivers erectile dysfunction and male incontinence clinics based in GP surgeries. Although, like the other HOM key-workers, his work is focussed on a wide range of non-health settings, he also helps staff a men’s ‘drop-in’ clinic at a local Keighley Health Centre. He also has involvement with school based work and youth work including a teenage advice centre (Tic-Tac) , based at a secondary school. He has strong links with school nurses.

Read Chris' Interview

Mehzar Iqbal

Steeton BD 20

Mehzar is a multilingual Senior healthcare support worker for HOM. He speaks Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi and has played a key role in setting up and helping to deliver projects with ethnic minority communities across the Bradford & Airedale district, including successfully bringing men’s health sessions into local mosques. Although, like the other HOM key-workers, his work is focussed on a wide range of non-health settings, he also helps staff a men’s  ‘drop-in’ clinic at a local Health Centre. He also has involvement on school based work and youth work including a teenage advice centre (Tic-Tac) based at a secondary school. He has recently been involved in DASH (Diabetes Asian Self Help) programme.

Read Mehzar's Interview

 

Merv Pemberton

Steeton BD 20

Merv is employed as a healthcare support worker by Airedale PCT. He worked as a nursing assistant before joining the HOM team soon after the project started. Based on his own experiences of having been bullied at school, he devised an innovative and successful programme of anti-bullying intervention which has been delivered in schools, places of worship and other community venues. Along with his anti-bullying work, Merv has been involved in projects targeted to the Afro-Caribbean community There is also involvement in other school based and youth work including a teenage advice centre (Tic-Tac) , based at a secondary school and  he also has strong links with school nurses.

 

Worksafe
(Pete Kilbane & Dave Towers)

Worksafe is a voluntary organisation which evolved from an advice centre opened in 1992 by members of Keighley Trades Union Council to give advice to workers on occupational health and safety issues. Worksafe has retained and developed its strong links with trade unions and the Bradford Area Occupational Health and Safety Forum (BAOHSF). Its role in the HOM project is to target health and safety issues within the community, focussing on workers and small voluntary sector organisations.
Their work also now substantially includes initiatives in schools in conjunction with Education Bradford, especially for school leavers and those undertaking work experience.

Worksafe runs a free telephone advice service on all health and safety issues 01535 664462. Although the service is open to both genders, the service has predominately been utilised by men. The advice topics include temperature, violence, asbestos, bullying, electricity, fork lift trucks, fire, PPE, lone working, musculo-skeletal disorders, RSI, PUWER, LOLER, traffic routes, welfare facilities. More information on Worksafe is available from www.worksafeproject.org

 

Leeds Metropolitan University

(Prof. Alan White)

Leeds Metropolitan Universities Faculty of Health is commissioned to evaluate the project, principally through the involvement of Prof. Alan White, the University’s Professor of Men’s Health. One example of his research for the project is the ‘Report on the First Phase of the Study of Men’s Usage of the Bradford Health of Men Services’ written together with Prof. Keith Cash (to access this, click on ‘Research & Evaluation’ tab at the top of this page).
Prof. White’s research has also included the Scoping Study on Men’s Health for the Department of Health, and the Report on the State of Men’s Health across 17 European Countries (for the European Men’s Health Forum). He was also responsible for setting up the Department of Health-funded ‘Database of men’s health projects and initiatives’ for the Men’s Health Forum, and the database on individuals and organisations working in the field of men’s health, for the European Men’s Health Forum.
He works closely with the Men’s Health Forum and currently holds the position of Chair of Trustees

(David Conrad)

Since completing an MSc in Public Health in 2005, David has worked as a researcher at the Centre for Men’s Health on the study of men’s usage of the HoM services. He has written papers on the sociology of the body, defining social capital and art in health. He is currently co-editing a book with Prof. Alan White describing successful HOM projects, entitled ‘Men’s Health – How To Do It’. The book is scheduled to be published by Radcliffe Publishing in June 2007.

  

 

Bradford Council (Stephen Newbold)

Bradford Metropolitan District Council (BMDC) is a key partner in H.O.M and facilitates the administration of the initiative. Many of the experimental projects in men’s health, especially for older men and manual workers have been undertaken in programmes planned with BMDC managers.