MiP Chief Executive Jon Restell has responded to the announcement by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, that Public Health England will be abolished and a new National Institute for Health Protection created.

Jon Restell said:

“The pace of these changes is very concerning. The spring deadline for the potential reform of terms and conditions of PHE staff is an extremely close one and it will weigh heavily on the minds of those working at PHE during this difficult, unprecedented period. The significant additional responsibilities also granted by these reforms, with no mention of the increasing of capacity by increasing staff numbers in real terms, will also be causing great stress to overworked staff.

“Large workforce re-organisations are difficult beasts at the best of times. They require a significant amount of time, work and commitment from the staff of an organisation and will almost certainly have a psychological impact on the people who work there, the same people we have been told will now be in charge of responding to pandemics on behalf of the entire UK.

“PHE has other public health responsibilities aside from pandemic management and it is important that this work and the staff who carry out this work remain valued. PHE’s work on reducing health inequalities and improving life expectancy, for example, remains as crucial, if not more so, during a pandemic which has had a greater impact on low-income households than ever before.”