Big cuts planned to public health budgets

12 July 2017Central government cuts have forced councils to reduce planned spending on vital public health services such as sexual health clinics and reducing harm from smoking, alcohol and drugs by£85 million, according tonew analysis by The King’s Fund.The analysis, based on Department of Communities and Local Government data, shows that councils in England are planning to spend£3.4 billion on public health services in 2017/18. But on a like-for-like basis (to exclude the impact of changes to how budgets are calculated over different years) councils will spend only£2.52 billion on public health services in 2017/18 compared to£2.60 billion the previous year. Once inflation is factored in, we estimate that, on a like-for-like basis, planned public health spending is more than 5 per cent less in 2017/18 than it was in 2013/14 [1].While the figures show that councils are planning to spend more on some services– including on promoting physical activity and on some children’s services– most services are planned to be cut. This includes reducing spending on:sexual health services by£30 million compared to last year, a 5 per cent cuttackling drug misuse in adults by more than£22 million, a 5.5 per cent cutstop smoking services by almost£16 million, a 15 per cent cut.Many services that face spending cuts this year have already had to cope with successive years of falling budgets. Planned spending on sexual health serv...
Source: The King's Fund - Press - Category: UK Health Source Type: news