Public health grants: increased and sustained funding is needed

The Institute of Health Promotion and Education has concerns about the recent public health grant allocations in terms of both quantity and timing.1 We think that the cuts should be reversed, and the government should commit to a long term, multi-year investment in public health.23Cuts to public health are a false economy as they add to the impending costs of healthcare and risk widening health inequalities.45 We think that money invested could be used to effectively promote the health of communities and help to relieve pressure on services like the NHS, social care, and the criminal justice system.The cuts to budgets have not been evenly spread, and some of the largest reductions in spend over recent years were for stop smoking services and tobacco control, drug and alcohol services for adults, and sexual health services.6Concerningly, real term cuts to the public health grant have disproportionately fallen on some of the…
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