Fed welcomes appointment of chief medical officer to Police Covenant

27 June 2023

West Mercia 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

West Mercia Police Federation chair Barry Horton said Prof Harrison’s appointment was an important one.

He said: “We have always been right behind the new Police Covenant because it has the health and wellbeing of officers and their families at its core.

“If and when an officer suffers ill health they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, which is what the Police Covenant was brought in for in the first place.

“The focus should always be firmly on the police officer.

“Professor Harrison is a medical officer who has experience in policing so we welcome his appointment and look forward to working with him in the future.

“Each Force has a different approach to the way they support officers with their  physical and mental health and hopefully this role within the Police Covenant will bring 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.