The Faculty of Public Health welcomes today’s announcement of an increase in funding for local public health services in England.
After a decade of cuts, this 5% increase to the Public Health Grant represents an important first step in bolstering essential local health services which are critical in realising Government ambitions to shift towards preventative healthcare.
Local services dependent on the Public Health Grant, including mental health support, sexual health services, smoking cessation services, and specialist community public health are at the very foundation of our nation’s health and wellbeing, and are particularly important in reducing inequalities and protecting the health of vulnerable populations.
Research from the Health Foundation shows that the Public Health Grant has been cut by 24% on a real-terms per person basis since 2015/6, and despite the outstanding work of local public health teams this reduced funding has risked delivery of these critical services becoming unsustainable.
We hope that this £200 million injection for local public health services represents intent from Government to go further in restoring the Public Health Grant, which would significantly bolster the chances of it realising healthcare ambitions such as halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas of the UK.
