‘Prevent before you cure’ Minister tells NHS
Doctors call for funding cuts to now be reversed
THE GOVERNMENT must match its vision with funding and reverse public health cuts, leading doctors have warned, as plans for an updated NHS strategy focusing on prevention over cure are revealed today.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock will address the Annual Meeting of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes, where he is expected to underline how the new long-term plan for the health service will aim to stop people slipping into poor health.
Announcing a Green Paper, called Prevention Is Better Than
Cure, detailing the vision for a “new 21st century focus on prevention”, he will argue for a shift towards primary and community care services and a sharp focus on early support.
The UK is now spending £97bn from taxpayers on treating disease but just £8bn on preventing it, Mr Hancock is expected to tell the meeting during his keynote speech.
While the British Medical Association (BMA) trade union welcomed the move, it has warned that the Government must be realistic and match its hopes with funding.
Dr Peter English, the BMA’s public health committee chairman, said: “While the plans outlined in this paper are a welcome step, the Government must be realistic about what must be required in order to deliver this.
“There is a need to reverse the cuts to public health budgets, as in many areas, public health services do not adequately meet the health needs of the local population.”
He said that the cuts to services like smoking cessation and sexual health have directly contributed to “unacceptable variations” quality and quantity available to patients in some areas.
Mr English added: “Prevention is a win-win both in the obvious impact it has on the health of the population and its cost effectiveness in reducing future de- mand on NHS services. The Government has a duty to deliver on this.”
The latest NHS strategy comes just days after the Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged £20.5bn to fund the health service over the next five years.
The Government’s ambitions to improve public health include reducing loneliness, halving childhood obesity by 2030 and diagnosing three quarters of cancers at stages 1 and 2 by 2028.
Focusing on prevention will help to tackle health inequality, Mr Hancock is expected to tell the meeting today.
“It can’t be right that today, in England, a boy born in the poorest parts of our country will die nine years earlier, and live 19 more years in poor health, than a boy born in the richest areas,” he will say. “That’s why prevention matters. That’s why we need a new 21st century focus on prevention.”
The shift towards prevention has also been praised by the Royal College of Nursing, which reiterated the call for serious investment at a local level.