Doctors and dentists oppose cuts public health funding
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- Published: Monday, 29 June 2015 07:29
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The British Medical Association (BMA) and British Dental Association (BDA) have responded jointly to the staffing review and suggested restructure at Public Health England (PHE). Mick Armstrong, Chair of the British Dental Association, said: “We have grave concerns that mooted cuts at Public Health England are being driven purely by the clamour for ‘efficiency savings’. A review that is not based on evidence or workforce need represents a clear risk to public health, for little to no gain.”
The BMA and BDA are concerned that proposed changes are being driven by cost cutting, at the expense of the public’s health. Further cuts to medical and dental staff will undermine the delivery of vital public health services, and the future of public health medicine and dentistry.
The decision to undertake a strategic review of PHE was made in April 2014 by the National Executive. The 2014-15 business plan, published in May 2014, originally stated PHE would “carry out a comprehensive strategic review of our functions and purpose to ensure that we deliver our responsibilities in the most efficient and effective way, doing more and new for less by October 2014”.
Public health doctors have a unique mix of medical and public health training, taking more than 10 years to become fully qualified. With numbers already low, further reductions to the workforce at a time of rising public health challenges - such as increasing levels of obesity - are short-sighted, especially because the long training time will hamper recruitment and lead to a future shortage of public health doctors. Furthermore, PHE have provided little detail on the effect that proposed changes will have on services and staffing levels, though it is clear doctors’ jobs will be affected and numbers will reduce.
There are currently 26.75 whole time equivalent (WTE) Consultant in Dental Public Health posts in England, compared to a budgeted establishment of 40.15 for 2014/15. With a pre-consultation suggestion by PHE of funding for 29 WTE posts, the specialty is looking at an arbitrary 28 per cent reduction in staff resources.
This is in the context of 20 per cent savings required by PHE across the board, and comes at a time when unacceptable and preventable inequalities in health, including oral health across the country remain to be tackled, with consultants in medical and dental public health at the heart of any action.
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