This week the Government is expected to announce that it will scrap the pandemic response function of Public Health England, and merge this with NHS Test and Trace to form an agency “similar to the German Robert Koch Institute”. It is also particularly distressing that the news was leaked to the press before PHE staff could be told.
The SHA warns the reckless decision to restructure and defund public health services in the midst of a pandemic will result in further avoidable deaths. The public health service, nationally and locally has already been severely starved of funds as a result of austerity.
The NHS Test and Trace Service (led by Baroness Dido Harding, and run by Deloitte, Serco, Sitel and other private sector outsourcing companies) has received strong criticism for its poor response to the COVID 19 pandemic.
Dr Brian Fisher, SHA Chair, says “This is yet another example of the Government putting lives at risk by pursuing ideologically driven privatisation in a time of crisis.”
Socialist Health Association members have told us that “this is another example of this government’s scapegoating, most especially since the man telling us the PHE response has been unacceptable was the man in charge, deliberately ignoring their expert recommendations and favouring sweet manufacturers and other non-expert businesses to deliver a service to the public. Public health has been underfunded, to the point it has required almost superhuman efforts from its staff to maintain a quality of service from the time of the so called Lansley Reforms. For that, our public health experts, like our nurses, are rewarded with a kick in the teeth.”
SHA calls on the Government to reinvest funds from failing NHS Test and Trace private providers into the public sector pandemic response across the NHS, Public Health England and Local Authorities.