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Union condemns axing of PHE
Public Health England (PHE) is being used as a scapegoat for the government’s COVID-19 failings, said general union Unite as it was announced last month that the agency is to be axed.
The decision to scrap PHE and merge it with NHS Test and Trace to create the National Institute for Health Protection has been met with fierce criticism.
Government underfunding of PHE, and the 25% cut since 2015 to England’s wider public health budget, has had an important impact on the country’s ability to respond to the pandemic, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers which represents NHS trusts, told The Guardian.
The Unite union said that instead of merging PHE into a new body charged with preventing future pandemics, PHE should continue in its present role — and the money cut from its budget by the government should be restored.
Unite added that there should be proper consultations with the unions about the future of PHE, an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.
National officer for health Jackie Williams said it was clear PHE and its staff “are being lined up to be the fall guy for continual bungling by [prime minister] Boris Johnson and his ministers since coronavirus emerged at the beginning of the year.
“The catalogue of errors ranges from the lateness to lockdown in March to the failure to have a so-called ‘world beating’ test-and-trace system in place by June.”