News / Public health cuts ‘false economy’

In a report on public health following the transfer to local authorities in 2013, the committee said spending cuts were a false economy. Public health post 2013 said in July 2015 public health budgets were cut by £200m (6.7%) and the spending review later last year announced further reductions. There was a ‘growing mismatch’ between the amount spent on public health and the importance given to preventing ill health in the NHS five-year forward view, it said.

While some local authorities had made progress, this was patchy. Some variation was to be expected as the new system is locally driven, but the MPs were concerned that there is no system to tackle unacceptable variation.

It called on the government to recognise that tackling health inequalities and improving public health would not happen primarily in hospitals. There should be a ‘whole life course’ approach that tackled the wider determinants of health in the community, with early intervention and joined-up policy making at national level. The committee said there should be a cabinet-level minister responsible for embedding health across the work of all government departments.

Committee chair Sarah Wollaston said: ‘The disappointing watering down of the childhood obesity strategy, published in August, demonstrates the gap in joined-up evidence-based policy to improve health and wellbeing. Government must match the rhetoric on reducing health inequality with a resolve to take on big industry interests and will need to be prepared to go further if it is serious about achieving its stated aims.’

The report called for health to be a material consideration in planning and licensing law to help local authorities improve their population health and reduce inequalities.

NHS Confederation chief executive Stephen Dalton (pictured) welcomed the inquiry’s focus on bringing together the broader public sector. He added: ‘Our submission to this health select committee inquiry expressed serious concerns that a failure to reverse public health and social care cuts would hit NHS plans hard and this is exactly what is starting to happen. The argument that reductions in budgets can be managed by local councils remains flawed, given that local government budgets are reducing significantly.’