19 November 2025
Nursing and Midwifery Community of Practice Focuses on Improving Population Health
Improving population health took centre stage at the recent Senior Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Community of Practice (CoP), organised by NIPEC and attended by nursing and midwifery staff from across HSC. The keynote speaker was Dr Andy Knox, Associate Medical Director in the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board and GP Partner at Ash Tree Surgery, Carnforth. Dr Knox’s work focuses on improving population health and addressing health inequalities, and he recently published his first book, Sick Society, which has generated significant interest.
During the session, Andy held the audience’s attention with powerful and moving stories illustrating the real-world impact that healthcare professionals can have in tackling health inequalities and enhancing population wellbeing. His stories highlighted the vital importance of human connection, collaboration, and understanding life experiences when driving meaningful change. Participants engaged enthusiastically, sharing their own examples of initiatives that are helping improve health.
Dr Andy Knox with Brenda Carson, Gary Cousins and Eunice Robinson, NIPEC Senior Professional Officers
Dr Andy Knox
Reflecting on the session, Brenda Carson, Senior Professional Officer at NIPEC, said:
“In this CoP session we highlighted the soon-to-be-launched Quality Excellence Framework. The ambition of the Framework is to provide assurance of high-quality care and professional practice within and across organisations. Central to this is alignment with the quintuple aim in health, which seeks to enhance population health, improve patient experience, ensure value, support workforce wellbeing, and promote equity for all.”
She added:
“This CoP session looked at population health. It was fantastic to have Andy inspire and challenge our thinking on how we can make an impact in this area. We look forward to future sessions that will explore the remaining four objectives of the quintuple aim.”
The event marked an important step in NIPEC promoting collective understanding, building momentum to help equip nurses and midwives to play an active role in transforming population health across Northern Ireland.