Osborne warned over damage to nations health of £200M budget cut
The Government’s planned £200 million cuts to public health budgets will harm the nation’s health, a number of leading charities and organisations have warned.
In a letter to The Times, charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation said the cuts would also hamper attempts to reduce cost pressures in the long-term.
Chancellor George Osborne announced the move last month, which will see money slashed from council budgets, leading to concerns it will affect obesity prevention and weight loss schemes as well as alcohol misuse programmes.
Other services funded by local authorities’ public health budgets include school nursing, screening programmes, drug and substance misuse programmes and sexual health schemes.
The letter, which has also been signed by the Royal Society for Public Health, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Midwives, calls for the Government to recognise that the cuts would be “deeply counter-productive to the health of our nation”.
The letter reads: “We believe the proposed £200m of cuts to public health budgets would be harmful both to the health of the population in England and to long-term efforts to reduce cost pressures.
“Public health services target some of the most significant challenges of our time, such as smoking, alcohol misuse, obesity and inactivity.
“For the NHS and social care to cope with challenges posed by growing demand and limited resources, there needs to be an increased emphasis on preventing ill-health.
“NHS England’s Five Year Forward View, which has been fully adopted by the Government, recognised this reality. It made prevention its cornerstone, establishing a consensus around which real progress could be made.
“As the Department of Health launches this consultation, we urge Government to take note of the weight of evidence and recognise that cuts to public health services would be deeply counter-productive to the health of our nation.”
The letter has been signed by:
- Professor Karen Middleton, chief executive, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
- Shirley Cramer, chief executive, Royal Society for Public Health
- Professor John R Ashton, president, Faculty of Public Health
- Professor Cathy Warwick, chief executive, Royal College of Midwives
- Tom Wright, chief executive, Age UK
- Kay Boycott, chief executive, Asthma UK
- Delyth Morgan, chief executive, Breast Cancer Now
- Simon Gillespie, chief executive, British Heart Foundation
- Dr Penny Woods, chief executive, British Lung Foundation
- Barbara Young, chief executive, Diabetes UK
- Lynda Thomas, chief executive, Macmillan Cancer Support
- Arlene Wilkie, chief executive, The Neurological Alliance
- Mark Winstanley, chief executive, Rethink Mental Illness
- Jon Barrick, chief executive, The Stroke Association
- Professor Russell Viner, officer for health promotion, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
- Dr Liam O’Toole, chief executive, Arthritis Research UK
- Deborah Arnott, chief executive, Action on Smoking & Health
- Jackie Ballard, chief executive, Alcohol Concern
- Ben Reynolds, acting coordinator, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming
- Paul Farmer, chief executive, Mind
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