Cutting public health funding is a “false economy” that will cost £7.6 billion to put right, a new review by the University of Liverpool suggests. It found every £1 spent on public health returns an average of £14.30 in savings. Government will have cut council public health budgets by more than £500 million by 2020/21.
Cllr Richard Kemp, LGA Lib Dem Group Spokesperson on Health and Social Care, said: “To take vital money away from the services which can be used to prevent illness and the need for treatment later down the line and ease the pressure on the NHS is counter-productive. We need to move away from a focus on treating sickness to actively promoting health. Investing in prevention ultimately saves money for other parts of the public sector by reducing demand for hospital, health and social care services and ultimately improves the public’s health.”