Government urged to reverse public health cuts

28 March 2019 Seamus Ward

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In a report, Prevention before cure: prioritising population health, the BMA said spending was being reduced while hospital admissions were rising. Public health grants to local authorities had been cut by £550m in real terms since 2015/16. Alcohol and obesity service budget have been reduced by 10% over the last three years, while smoking cessation budgets have shrunk by more than 20%, it said.Saffron Cordery

Meanwhile, there has been a tenfold increase in obesity-related hospital admissions since 2006/07, while those associated with alcohol had more than doubled.

The BMA called for the spending review to reverse the £550m cuts in public health spending, together with a cross-government approach to addressing societal factors that influence health and more regulation to tackle lifestyle issues.

The government has promised a green paper on public health, which is expected later this year. Peter English, BMA public health medicine committee chair, said the green paper was an opportunity to address failures in public health policy and ‘put in place a well-funded, co-ordinated plan that provides patients with a preventive health system that meets their needs’.

Public health was vital to the NHS and services such as smoking cessation courses, weight management programmes, and drug and alcohol dependency treatments, made a real difference to people’s lives. In the long term, they can save the NHS vital resources by preventing conditions like alcoholism or obesity, which can cost substantial sums to treat, Dr English added.

‘Unfortunately, we have seen a systematic pattern in the past decade of all parts of the public health sector being subjected to a funding squeeze that has left preventive health care in crisis. A lack of joined up thinking and national standards has led to widening health inequalities,’ he said.

NHS Providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery (pictured) said investment in public health was vital to the delivery of care closer to home.

‘This report makes it clear that there is a link between cuts to public health budgets and local support services, and a rise in hospital admissions. We know that support to address the wider determinants of health, and early intervention to ensure people’s conditions can be managed and treated at an early stage, can help people remain well for longer and prevent hospital admissions further down the line.

‘But we have seen deep cuts to council public health budgets in recent years which we urgently need to see a reversed in the upcoming spending review.’