What will Public Health England’s replacement do - and will it succeed?
Critics are questioning decision to hand coronavirus response to the new National Institute for Health Protection
Public Health England (PHE) is to be replaced with a new organisation responsible for dealing with pandemics, Matt Hancock has confirmed.
In a speech on Tuesday, the health secretary (pictured above left with Boris Johnson) said that PHE will be scrapped and control of the UK’s coronavirus response handed to the newly formed (NIHP).
But many health experts have criticised the decision, with the controversy fuelled by the appointment of Tory peer Dido Harding - who oversaw the roll-out of the NHS track-and-trace scheme - as NIHP chair.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Why is PHE being scrapped?
PHE was formed in 2013 as part of a series of government health reforms. An “executive agency” of the Department of Health and Social Care, PHE “was ultimately under the direct control of ministers” and was intended to “protect and improve the nation’s health and well-being, and reduce health inequalities”, says The Times.
The body cost taxpayers a total of £287m in 2018-19, and PHE supporters have “argued that it has faced ‘years of underfunding’ while trying to tackle a particularly wide remit”, the newspaper adds.
BBC Health Editor Hugh Pym suggests that the organisation was flawed from the start, however, as an “ungainly merger of health protection and prevention initiatives such as obesity strategies”.
“It was pulled in different directions and had to get by with successive annual budget cuts,” he writes.
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the system to breaking point, with a number of MPs expressing dissatifaction with PHE’s handling of the crisis.
The announcement that the body is being axed comes after “weeks of speculation that ministers, including Boris Johnson, were unhappy with its performance over the testing of coronavirus swab samples and tracing of people suspected of being infected, especially early in the pandemic”, The Guardian reports.
What will the new agency do?
According to Hancock, NIHP will have “a single and relentless mission - protecting people from external threats to this country’s health”. The health secretary said the new body will be “dedicated to the investigation and prevention” of external threats such as pandemics, infectious diseases and biological weapons”.
The “immediate task” will be to deal with the nation’s Covid-19 response, including boosting testing capacity and improving the NHS Test and Trace system, he added.
NIHP will be a national body that operates at a local level, working with councils’ directors of public health and with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
By contrast, PHE operated in just four regions: the north of England, south of England, Midlands and east of England, and London.
And the reaction?
The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has criticised the government for scrapping PHE in the middle of a major pandemic.
RSPH chief executive Christina Marriott said that health leaders “recognise that there have been some serious challenges in terms of our response to Covid-19”, but added that “multiple lessons” need to be learned “before solutions can be in place in advance of the winter”.
“To do otherwise risks avoidable mistakes in subsequent waves of the pandemic which will only harm the public’s health further,” she warned.
Downing Street has also been accused of using PHE as a scapegoat for government failures in responding to the Covid crisis.
“Public Health England appears to have been found guilty without a trial,” says Richard Murray, chief executive of the King’s Fund think tank.
“Undoubtedly there are questions to be answered about England’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis, but the middle of a pandemic is not the time to dismantle England’s public health agency.”
The Guardian notes that the shake-up is being “pushed through even though the government admits it does not know who will take forward PHE’s work in tackling obesity, reducing smoking and tackling health inequalities”.
Hancock is also facing criticism for handing control of NIHP to Harding, who has limited experience in working in public health.
“We will find out in due course Harding’s plans to prepare for a future pandemic,” says The Telegraph’s Ross Clark.
“But I wouldn’t even trust her to get the ‘bring out your dead’ carts onto the street without their wheels falling off.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - November 3, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - presidential pitching, wavering convictions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Who are the markets backing in the US election?
Talking Point Speculators are piling in on the Trump trade. A Harris victory would come as a surprise
By The Week UK Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Bob Woodward's War: the explosive Trump revelations
In the spotlight Nobody can beat Watergate veteran at 'getting the story of the White House from the inside'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Trump kept up with Putin, sent Covid tests, book says
Speed Read The revelation comes courtesy of a new book by Bob Woodward
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'The federal government's response to the latest surge has been tepid at best'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden tests positive for Covid in fresh blow to campaign
Speed Read The president said he would consider dropping out of the race if presented with a "medical condition"
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published