Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Those buck-passing Tories
It has been said all along that the UK Government would find scapegoats to take responsibility for their failures on tackling COVID-19, and so it has proved. As the Independent reports, plans to scrap Public Health England (PHE) in the middle of the crisis, look panic stricken and amount to buck-passing.
The paper says that PHE’s pandemic response work will be merged with NHS Test and Trace, and the body will be replaced by a new organisation set up specifically to deal with a pandemic. While, experts have raised concerns over timing and the potential knock-on effect that a “major restructuring” would have on coronavirus containment efforts:
Dr Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: “The reports in the media that the UK government is likely to announce the reorganisation of Public Health England are perhaps no great surprise.
“What is a surprise is that this is happening in the middle of the greatest public health challenge to the UK since the Second World War.”
Dr Amitava Banerjee, associate professor in clinical data science and honorary consultant cardiologist at UCL’s Institute of Health Informatics, raised concerns over how the move would impact efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“A major restructuring of public health function, as the global Covid-19 emergency continues, will distract limited resources – both human and financial – away from the simple public-health measures of testing and tracing,” he said.
Dr Banerjee also said it was unclear what would happen to ”the wide range of PHE programmes outside of pandemic preparedness”, such as for cardiovascular diseases and mental health.
“We risk damaging public health, not just in relation to Covid-19 but far beyond,” he said.
Professor Neena Modi from Imperial College London also questioned where responsibility would lie for public health matters outside infectious diseases, and how initiatives for them would be delivered.
“This is particularly important given that the UK has a shockingly high prevalence of obesity, a postcode lottery for reproductive health services, and poor air quality in urban areas,” the professor of neonatal medicine said.
As ever with this Tory government, this reorganisation looks rushed and ill-thought out. Who will they scapegoat when the changes fall apart around them?
The paper says that PHE’s pandemic response work will be merged with NHS Test and Trace, and the body will be replaced by a new organisation set up specifically to deal with a pandemic. While, experts have raised concerns over timing and the potential knock-on effect that a “major restructuring” would have on coronavirus containment efforts:
Dr Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: “The reports in the media that the UK government is likely to announce the reorganisation of Public Health England are perhaps no great surprise.
“What is a surprise is that this is happening in the middle of the greatest public health challenge to the UK since the Second World War.”
Dr Amitava Banerjee, associate professor in clinical data science and honorary consultant cardiologist at UCL’s Institute of Health Informatics, raised concerns over how the move would impact efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“A major restructuring of public health function, as the global Covid-19 emergency continues, will distract limited resources – both human and financial – away from the simple public-health measures of testing and tracing,” he said.
Dr Banerjee also said it was unclear what would happen to ”the wide range of PHE programmes outside of pandemic preparedness”, such as for cardiovascular diseases and mental health.
“We risk damaging public health, not just in relation to Covid-19 but far beyond,” he said.
Professor Neena Modi from Imperial College London also questioned where responsibility would lie for public health matters outside infectious diseases, and how initiatives for them would be delivered.
“This is particularly important given that the UK has a shockingly high prevalence of obesity, a postcode lottery for reproductive health services, and poor air quality in urban areas,” the professor of neonatal medicine said.
As ever with this Tory government, this reorganisation looks rushed and ill-thought out. Who will they scapegoat when the changes fall apart around them?
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Risk of damage to public health etc.REMEMBER a lot of Johnsons philosophy is to open up the NHS to MORE privatisation. To wreck a system is the start of building up another.
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