Proposals for prevention and public health must be backed with action and investment
23 July 2019
- The Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care have published the consultation and green paper on prevention and public health.
- It argues that people need to view health as an asset to invest in throughout their lives.
- It outlines proposals for more targeted support, tailored lifestyle advice, personalised care and greater protection against future threats.
- The proposals will support the work that the NHS is doing as set out in the long term plan chapter on prevention.
The deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:
“We welcome this opportunity to talk about prevention and public health as a central pillar of a sustainable health and care system.
The proposals outlined in this green paper are a step in the right direction, but there is much more we must do.
“Trusts take their role in prevention and empowering people to manage their own health very seriously. Prevention is crucial in supporting the delivery of the ambitions of the long term plan. We all have a role to play in ensuring people are living not only longer but healthier lives too.
“The proposals outlined in this green paper are a step in the right direction, but there is much more we must do. It is positive to see the prominent role accorded to mental health in the green paper and the drive to narrow inequalities in society. But we have heard and been promised much of this before. We need to see ideas backed with action and appropriate investment.
For this to be a serious and credible exercise, we must see a reverse to the deep cuts in council public health budgets in recent years.
“For this to be a serious and credible exercise, we must see a reverse to the deep cuts in council public health budgets in recent years. We know there is a link between these cuts affecting local support services and the rise in demand for NHS care - this must be urgently addressed in the upcoming spending review.
“The NHS has a vital part to play, but the impact of this commitment to prevention depends not only on the efforts of NHS services to prevent but also a collaborative effort across government, local authorities and the wider system to address the wider determinants of health .”