Fed welcomes appointment of chief medical officer to Police Covenant

29 June 2023

Suffolk Police Federation has welcomed the appointment of  a chief medical officer to help deliver key elements of the Police Covenant.

Professor John Harrison brings with him a vast amount of experience and has spent  nine years as the chief medical officer with Devon and Cornwall Police.

Prof Harrison said his main challenge will be ensuring consistent policies across 43 Forces when each has its own priorities.

He said: “When it comes to national consistency, that’s the problem.

“One of the key challenges I see is that all 43 different police forces come with their own set of priorities. 

“One of my goals is to focus on pulling together a network of people to support and operationalise a national agenda so all forces can roll out the same policies and ways of working. 

“It is a postcode lottery. The variation between what different forces offer is massive and there’s a huge amount of work that needs to be done in this area.

“I want to change the narrative around occupational policing, not only for our officers but so that we can recruit better too. I think the police is a very exciting place to work and I want to help other healthcare professionals see that.”

Professor John Harrison

Suffolk Police Federation chair Darren Harris said the appointment was a positive step in supporting police officers.

He said: “The health and wellbeing of our members has always been our top priority and we welcome any measures that focus on that.

“We fully support the new Police Covenant because its focus is on the officers and their families and that is very important.

“The new chief medical officer has experience of the police service and the needs of officers who are impacted by ill health.

“Each Force has a different approach but we may soon see some uniformity across the service nationally.”

Prof Harrison’s appointment comes shortly after the Police Covenant revealed its latest priorities includes, to scope the current support in place in relation to healthcare pathways for the police workforce through further NHS Engagement.