Professor Stephen Peckham, director of PRUComm, and a group of other leading scientists from the NIHR Senior Investigators Public Health Interest Group, are calling on the Government to rethink how public health is organised in the UK.
Following the current Covid-19 pandemic, the group want to see a truly integrated public health function that will provide leadership and expertise nationally, regionally and locally within the NHS, local authorities, and local and national government.
In their joint BMJ blog,
the leading senior investigators reflect on what direction public
health should be taking in the UK. They want to see the NHS move away
from being simply an 'illness provider' and a 'security net' with more
of a 'partnership approach' to public health and urge current
politicians to learn from the past.