Dismantling PHE in the midst of a pandemic carries serious risks Joint letter to the Sunday Telegraph from the Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund
24 August 2020
Dismantling Public Health England (PHE) in the midst of a pandemic carries serious risks.
The public health system has been tested to its limits during the first wave of this pandemic, and it is surely right that the government should make changes if needed. But decisions of this magnitude need to be informed by evidence, and it is not yet clear what needs to change, nor what the risks of this huge upheaval might be.
Infection control is the largest item in PHE’s £300 million budget. It makes sense to link this activity with the work of the NHS Test and Trace programme and the Joint Biosecurity Centre. But increased focus on infection control must not come with a loss of focus on the other areas of PHE work – tackling major avoidable public health challenges such as obesity and growing health inequalities. These result in more deaths and disability than COVID-19, particularly affecting the areas that the government has pledged to 'level up'.
There has already been a 16 percent reduction in PHE’s budget on these issues and a 22 percent cut to the public health grant for local authorities since 2015/16. Without adequate funding, the new National Institute for Health Protection is likely to face many of the problems which have dogged its predecessor.
Dr Jennifer Dixon
Chief Executive, the Health Foundation
Nigel Edwards
Chief Executive, Nuffield Trust
Richard Murray
Chief Executive, The King’s Fund
This letter was first published in the Sunday Telegraph on 23 August 2020.
Further reading
Analysis
Creating healthy lives
This publication makes the case for an ambitious, whole-government approach to long-term investment...
Press release
PHE reorganisation is highly risky and justification for the change has not been fully set out
Health Foundation response to government’s announcement of plans to establish a new public health...
You might also like...
Chart
COVID-19 policy tracker 2020
A timeline of the national policy and health system responses to COVID-19 in England in 2020.
Chart
Huge variation in the proportion of over 80s who have had the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine
New data published by NHS England and Improvement shows huge variation in the proportion of over 80s...
Chart
NHS Test and Trace performance tracker
Our latest analysis on the performance of NHS Test and Trace (up to 30 December).
Get social
Health Foundation @HealthFdn
COVID-19 has resulted in the need for better support to NHS staff to use #PPE safely. @ImperialNHS introduced a P… https://t.co/hoSMfkH0LT
Follow us on TwitterWork with us
We look for talented and passionate individuals as everyone at the Health Foundation has an important role to play.
View current vacanciesThe Q community
Q is an initiative connecting people with improvement expertise across the UK.
Find out more