Call to increase public health funding in open letter to Downing Street
More than 45 health experts and organisations have urged the government to increase funding for public health ahead of this month's budget in an open letter to the Prime Minister and Chancellor.
The letter has welcomed the positive start to the government's mission to improve the nation's health, but warns that a coherent, cross-government approach, backed by investment in public health services is needed to achieve their public health policy ambitions.
It has been written by the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and signed by 47 organisations including the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), the School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA), the Faculty of Public Health, the NHS Confederation, and the Royal Society of Medicine.
The authors and signatories call on the government to create an environment where everyone has access to the basic building blocks needed to live healthier lives for longer.
Greg Fell, ADPH President, said: ‘The new government has shown they are committed to improving health. Health is more than just the NHS – every single decision made both nationally and locally impacts our health, whether it be to do with education, housing, jobs, or the environment.
‘Only by acknowledging this joint responsibility and getting everyone involved in making the places in which we live, learn and work healthier will we be able to improve the nation's health, and reduce the currently unacceptable gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest members of our society.’
The letter urges the government to restore funding to 2015-2016 levels so that directors of public health and their teams are able to work with cross-sector partners to deliver improved health for all.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘Health and care leaders strongly welcome the emphasis the new government has put on moving towards prevention as one of their three big shifts for the NHS. But achieving this shift will be impossible without key reforms and investment.’
Alison Morton, CEO of iHV, added: ‘We join with others in applauding the new government's commitment to prioritise child health and create the healthiest generation of children ever. And we offer our support to turn this into reality – which will require action at all levels of government and investment to strengthen prevention and early intervention support for families. This is not a quick fix – we agree, it is time to look beyond sticking plaster politics and make the ‘best start in life’ a reality for all children.
‘Investing in children is not only the right thing to do, it also makes sound economic sense. We stand at a crossroads where we urgently need to look beyond ‘fire-fighting’ and take a new direction to tackle the crippling costs of ‘getting it wrong’ as spending on costly late intervention is soaring out of control.
‘The good news is that there is an army of dedicated practitioners across the health, education and social care system ready to play their part.’
To read the letter, visit www.adph.org.uk/resources/open-letter-to-the-pm-and-chancellor-2024/
Petition handed to Prime Minister as part of school nurse campaign
As part of their on-going campaign, A School Nurse in Every School, the School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA) has launched a petition and published the findings of a survey into the state of school nursing.
The survey results were unveiled on October 8 at a House of Lords event hosted by Baroness D'Souza and attended by MPs, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, royal colleges, strategists, policy leads, and decision-makers.
The majority of the 278 UK-wide respondents to the survey indicated that they were unable to fulfil their wider public health role; 82% said that there was not enough staff to deliver a school nurse service.
The launch was followed by a rally at 10 Downing Street where SAPHNA members handed in the on-going petition.
SAPHNA urges everyone to sign the petition and to request their MP to sign up to support Early Day Motion EDM62548.
To find out more about the campaign and the survey results, visit https://tinyurl.com/y2eppv9m
To sign the petition, go to www.change.org/ASchoolNurseinEverySchool
News in brief
Eighty percent of school staff say they have seen a rise in ‘hygiene poverty’ in the last year, a survey has found, with 26% having seen children missing whole school days because of it.
A study published by the Clean Up Child Hygiene Poverty campaign and involving more than 500 UK teaching staff members reported students regularly arriving at school in dirty uniforms and with unclean hair or teeth.
Teaching staff in the survey estimate that they have spent an average of £27 of their own money in the last year on hygiene products for their students – which would equate to more than £40m across the country. Find the campaign at www.smolproducts.com/clean-up-child-hygiene-poverty
As the number of young people going to A&E with mental health problems rises, a report (Crenna-Jennings et al, 2024) has found ‘substantial variation’ in the range of mental health support available for young people – with no obvious link between the support on offer and the level of need, including factors like population levels and deprivation.
The report has been published by the Education Policy Institute and considers the availability of non-specialist mental health services – those delivered outside of NHS mental health settings – for children and young people. Download the report at https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PT-report_FINALpdf-1.pdf