Public health specialists urge Hancock to delay ‘risky’ proposed scrapping of PHE

‘A poorly planned and timed restructure risks damaging the pandemic response and the public’s health’

SCRAPPING Public Health England (PHE) risks ushering in a second wave of coronavirus, a leading doctors’ group has warned.

At least 280 public health registrars are calling on Matt Hancock to delay his reported shake-up of the embattled agency until after winter.

Last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph revealed the Health and Social Care Secretary’s plans to abolish PHE and merge its pandemic response function with NHS Test and Trace.

The move is understood to reflect a view among ministers that PHE has failed in its response to Covid-19. But many in the medical and scientific communities say PHE is being used as a scapegoat for ministerial failings. And the group of experts including Prof Maggie Rae, president of the Faculty of Public Health, warn a massive restructuring could distract from the task of keeping the virus at bay.

In a letter to today’s Telegraph, they write: “We are deeply disturbed by the recently leaked news of another topdown restructure of the public health system, particularly mid-pandemic, and without forewarning staff.

“A poorly planned and timed restructure risks undermining national and local strategy, systems and expert knowledge, damaging … the pandemic response and the public’s health.”

Public health registrars are frontline professionals in an advanced NHS training programme to become consultants in public health medicine.

As well as a delay in the proposed shake-up, the group is calling for funding to prevent ill health in the first place – a key function of PHE – to be increased and ring-fenced.

However, the chances of a stay of execution for PHE appeared to grow slimmer yesterday when Mr Hancock published an open letter to health and social care professionals promising to “scythe away bureaucracy that is disempowering to the … staff.”