New UK public health body hit by budget concerns

There are growing fears that the government body established to deal with public health in the United Kingdom during the pandemic has fallen into disarray just a year after it was set up, with the novel coronavirus still a major medical issue, and concerns that it would not be able to handle any repeat of recent events.

Then-health minister Matt Hancock set up the UK Health Security Agency, or UKHSA, in April 2021, saying that it would be "this country's permanent standing capacity to plan, prevent and respond to external threats to health … deploying the full might of our analytic and genomic capability on infectious diseases … in all, helping to cast a protective shield over the nation's health".He said: "Even after years without a major public health threat, UKHSA must be ready not just to do the science but to respond at unbelievable pace."

It would be made up of the "very best team possible from around the world… to provide leadership here and around the world", he said.

But just 12 months later, The Guardian newspaper reports that morale is at an all-time low, with 40 percent of its health protection team staff across the country facing redundancy, and no funding plans in place for a resurgence of the virus.

Restrictions brought in to try and control the spread of the novel coronavirus across the UK have been stood down in recent months, as the government pursues the policy it calls Living with COVID, but official government statistics show that the virus remains a major public health issue.

Figures published on Apr 26 showed that 131,054 people had tested positive in the last seven days, a number which was 29 percent down on the previous week, but the figure for deaths within 28 days of a positive test was 2,266, an increase of 52.8 percent.

UKHSA budgetary cuts mean it is expected to propose the suspension of regular asymptomatic tests in care homes and hospitals, in anticipation of a spike in cases later in the year, as The Guardian reports that there is only enough funding to cover six months of testing.

Maggie Rae, president of health professional representative organization the Faculty of Public Health, said the government's underfunding of services was "irresponsible and threatens the health of all in society, particularly the most vulnerable".

"If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one thing," she added, "it is the importance of having a properly funded public health system that is able to prepare for, and respond to, threats to our health."

Paul Cain, director general for health protection operations at the UKHSA, said: "In line with the government's Living with COVID-19 plan, we are adjusting the size of our workforce as was always planned.

"Temporary staff contracts are being brought to an end and those affected are being updated. At the same time, we will build new capability based on the lessons of COVID."