DoH says avoid public health redundancies

The Department of Health has decreed that 'all reasonable steps' should be taken to avoid making primary care trust public health directors redundant to enable the NHS to retain their specialist knowledge.

In the long-awaited supplementary guidance to the Commissioning a Patient-led NHS human resources framework for PCT directors of public health, issued by NHS Employers and the DoH, the government warns that 'valuable public health skills and experience' should not be 'lost to the service'.

The DoH had come in for increased criticism from the public health lobby and public health directors for failing to protect senior posts.

Faculty of Public Health president Professor Rod Griffiths welcomed the guidance, saying it was 'much more positive compared to where we previously started from'.

He said public health director appointments to the new strategic health authorities would be announced in the next few weeks, and that he understood the DoH would be asking these new appointees to ensure that public health workforce plans for each region avoided redundancies.

Association of Directors of Public Health president Tim Crayford told HSJ that while he broadly welcomed the guidance, he was concerned about the loss of senior public health capacity through 'retirement and displacement' during PCT reconfiguration.

Last October, the then DoH deputy director of finance Kevin Orford sent a letter to all SHA finance directors saying that public health posts should be exempt from any cutbacks in an attempt to make management cost savings.

Mr Crayford said he was 'very concerned' that this guidance had been lost under the current financial pressures.

'In the light of worrying trends in the public health of the country, this is not the time to downsize the senior public health workforce in England. We would welcome some more explicit guidance to restore displaced posts and reinstate Choosing Health funds,' he said.