Public health cuts must be avoided, new PM told

Cuts to public health budgets will hit poorest communities the hardest, the new government is being warned.

Directors of public health say local authorities - which pay for initiatives such as smoking cessation services - are on a financial cliff edge.

Rising inflation means ventures will cost more to run.

Any reduction in funding in next week's spending announcement will have a direct impact on the lives of the most vulnerable, they said.

In his first speech as prime minister, Rishi Sunak has warned of "difficult decisions" ahead as his government grapples with a "profound economic crisis".

That will include how to fund the NHS and disease prevention strategies while plugging an estimated £40bn hole in public finances.

Mr Sunak said: "After the billions of pounds it cost us to combat Covid... I fully appreciate how hard things are."

Alice Wiseman is the director of public health in Gateshead, parts of which see a 10-year difference in life expectancy due to the circumstances in which a child is born.

Like other directors of public health across England, she has seen her budget cut by about a quarter since 2015/2016.

She is worried that, despite the government's promise earlier in the year for a slight increase in the overall public health budget for England to £3.4bn, double-digit inflation will mean services will cost more, and that means cuts.

"It's really hard to work in an environment where you're always thinking about what you potentially need to prioritise, what you potentially maybe need to look at reducing," Ms Wiseman said.

One area that Gateshead is committed to is the city's smoking cessation programmes, which not only give smokers the chance for healthier outcomes but also save the area more than £62m in lost earnings and health and social care costs.

"If we keep cutting those preventative services... we end up picking up the bill at the other side when people are unwell," she said.

Independent health charity The Health Foundation has been tracking reductions in public health spending for the past seven years and said initiatives around stopping smoking, adult drug and alcohol addiction and sexual health services have been the hardest hit.

Smoking cessation programmes have seen budget reductions of 41% since 2015/2016.

David Finch, assistant director of healthy lives at The Health Foundation, said: "We're already seeing some worrying signs of deteriorating health.

"Child obesity has risen through the pandemic. Drug and alcohol deaths have been rising.

"Public health interventions have been shown to be really cost effective," he added.

"Investing in these preventative measures that help to keep people in good health in the first place means you're protecting against future costs to the economy and society by keeping people healthy and reducing poor health in the future."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said an announcement on the Public Health Grant for local authorities would be made soon.