Doctors’ leaders call for public health to remain part of the NHS

Public health should remain part of the NHS under the control of a single public health agency or the health service could be dangerously fragmented and damaged, claims the BMA.

In its official response to the government’s white paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People on public health, the BMA said the proposed reforms have caused great anxiety among the public health community and the government should reconsider its proposals.

The government intends to restructure public health services in England, so directors of public health will move to local authorities, which will have responsibility for public health, and to create a new division within the Department of Health, which will be called Public …