Local authorities across the country will receive almost £200 million for key health services, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced.
Services to receive the funding boost include family and school nurses, sexual health clinics, smoking cessation, and addiction recovery. The investment is part of the government’s Plan for Change, in order to shift focus on to community and preventative care.
‘Prevention is better than cure,’ said minister for public health and prevention Andrew Gwynne. ‘If we can reach people earlier and help them stay healthy, this extra investment will pay for itself several times over in reduced demand on the NHS and by keeping people in work.’
It is the biggest real-terms increase since 2016: funding for public health grants will increase to £3.858 billion – a 5.4% cash uplift from 2024, or 3% in real terms, the government said.
Nuffield Trust chief executive Thea Stein described the 5.4% uplift as ‘a welcome move by government’. Thea continued: ‘Public health support – from health visitors to sexual health and drug and alcohol services – can make a real difference to people’s lives.’ But in terms of funding, Thea said ‘it has long been the poor relation to the NHS’ and that how far the boost goes will depend on a number of factors.
For more information on the allocations and grant conditions, see here.
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