• The British Medical Association's (BMA) new report Prevention before cure: Prioritising population health has been published.
• The report identifies that there is a continued trend of decreasing finances for public health, and hospital admissions where obesity, smoking and alcohol are a factor are increasing.
• The BMA has urged health and social care secretary Matt Hancock to address these challenges in the forthcoming green paper.
  
  

Responding to Prevention before cure: Prioritising population health by the British Medical Association, the deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

“Investment in public health and prevention is vital if we are to move care away closer to home as set out in the vision of the NHS long term plan.

“This report makes it clear that there is a link between cuts to public health budgets and local support services, and a rise in hospital admissions. We know that support to address the wider determinants of health, and early intervention to ensure people’s conditions can be managed and treated at an early stage, can help people remain well for longer and prevent hospital admissions further down the line.

Local authorities have a key role to play in addressing the wider determinants of health, in close partnership with the NHS’s ambitions to prevent ill health and improve early intervention services.

Saffron Cordery    Deputy Chief Executive

“Local authorities have a key role to play in addressing the wider determinants of health, in close partnership with the NHS’s ambitions to prevent ill health and improve early intervention services.

“But we have seen deep cuts to council public health budgets in recent years which we urgently need to see a reversed in the upcoming spending review.

The government has committed to a prevention green paper. This needs to be a serious and credible exercise which sets out the path to a recovering public health and support services.

Saffron Cordery    Deputy Chief Executive

“The government has committed to a prevention green paper. This needs to be a serious and credible exercise which sets out the path to a recovering public health and support services. We must strengthen the key role they play in ensuring everyone has the information and support they need to make healthy choices from the outset.”