01 October 2004
Public health should be a responsibility shared across Whitehall and not confined to the Department of Health.
This is the view of senior local government and NHS figures who joined forces this week to call for a new Cabinet-level post to take forward the public health agenda.
A paper, Releasing the potential for the public's health, produced by the Local Government Association, the NHS Confederation and the UK Public Health Association, calls for a shift in emphasis away from a disease-focused health service.
It advocates a broader approach, encompassing the causes of ill health, including housing, diet and social inequality.
David Rogers, chair of the LGA's Supporting People Board, said: 'Local councils play a key role in many of the factors that affect public health, including education, tackling poverty, sustainable development, housing and transport.
'Ministers must commit to giving local authorities and their communities more control over public health issues and ensure that they have adequate resources to drive health improvement in a way that best suits their area's needs.'
Dame Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said progress on health would be made only if a cross-sector approach were adopted. 'Just as the NHS must not operate in isolation, so should public health policy be the responsibility of the entire government, not just the Department of Health,' she said.
The paper also calls for a strengthened public health role for both local authorities and primary care trusts and for their borders to be aligned.
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