Christopher Snowdon

Farewell, Public Health England

Picture by Andrew Parsons / No. 10 Downing Street

Farewell, Public Health England. Hello, National Institute for Health Protection. As expected, the hammer has fallen on the agency that promised to ‘protect the public’s health from infectious diseases’ but floundered hopelessly when tested by coronavirus. PHE failed to expand diagnostic testing, failed to engage with the private sector, stopped contact tracing when the virus was just getting going, discouraged the use of face masks, refused to share infection data with local authorities and couldn’t even count the number of people who died of Covid-19 properly.

Good riddance. According to Matt Hancock, its replacement will have a ‘single and relentless mission – protecting people from external threats to this country’s health’. In his announcement yesterday, he made an important distinction between ‘health protection’ and ‘health improvement’. The former involves infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance and environmental hazards. The latter involves encouraging people to eat their greens, exercise and stop smoking. For too long, these two different agendas have been bundled together under the umbrella of ‘public health’.

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