Public health reform should provide opportunity but not at the expense of prevention

Responding to the Secretary of State for Health’s creation of a new National Institute for Health Protection, Professor Ravi Mahajan, President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists said:

“In addition to our concerns about the government’s timing of reform to the UK’s public health sector in the midst of a global health pandemic, the absence of details of who will now undertake the critically important prevention elements of Public Health England’s work is a significant concern.

 “The government was clear in the NHS Long Term Plan that prevention is essential to reduce health inequalities and moderate demand on NHS services. This new focus on protection may be an immediate priority during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, but this must not be at the expense of Public Health England’s other priorities.

“If the Government is serious about “Preventing ill-health and reducing health inequalities…”, it must involve and engage with health experts from Medical Royal Colleges when establishing the planned Stakeholder Advisory Group to look at “…decisions around the future of PHE’s remaining health improvement functions.”

“The opportunity is to now ensure local public health teams are properly resourced to not only continue to address the full spectrum of public health issues, but continue to support our healthcare workers of all specialties as they begin to restart non-urgent care, and as we work towards what we all know will be an incredibly busy winter period.”