Stand up for public health

The decision to undertake a strategic review of PHE was made in April 2014 by the National Executive. The 2014-15 business plan, published in May 2014, originally stated PHE would “carry out a comprehensive strategic review of our functions and purpose to ensure that we deliver our responsibilities in the most efficient and effective way, doing more for less by October 2014”.

The BMA and BDA are concerned that proposed changes are being driven by cost cutting, at the expense of the public’s health. Further cuts to medical and dental staff will undermine the delivery of vital public health services, and the future of public health medicine and dentistry.

Public health doctors have a unique mix of medical and public health training, taking more than 10 years to become fully qualified. With numbers already low, further reductions to the workforce at a time of rising public health challenges - such as increasing levels of obesity - are short-sighted, especially because the long training time will hamper recruitment and lead to a future shortage of public health doctors. Furthermore, PHE have provided little detail on the effect that proposed changes will have on services and staffing levels, though it is clear doctors’ jobs will be affected and numbers will reduce.