MATT Hancock has announced three public health bodies are to be axed today.
The UK Government health secretary has announced the controversial move to replace three existing agencies with one new one.
Launching today the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP), led by Conservative Baroness Dido Harding, is to take the place of Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
He insisted it was an opportunity "to give ourselves the best chance of beating this virus once and for all" during a speech at the Policy Exchange.
However critics have branded the move short-sighted and irresponsible.
Mr Hancock said he had “every confidence” that the new organisation will be “world-renowned" adding: "One of the lessons I’ve learned from the crisis is that if something is the right thing to do, then putting off the change is usually the wrong thing to do.
“I hope we have struck a balance between showing exactly where we are going immediately and then having the time to ensure that we build that institution properly."
He added that the system would learn from South Korea and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute “where their health protection agencies have a huge, primary, focus on pandemic response”, and said his biggest fear was another health crisis emerging while the world was still dealing with Covid-19.
Alex Norris MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Public Health said the reorganisation of the health bodies was "a desperate attempt to shift the blame after years of cutting public health budgets".
He explained: "The real shift we need is towards an effective local test and trace system that delivers mass testing and case finding.
"Matt Hancock himself was responsible for Public health England and in setting PHE’s priorities last year – ministers didn’t even mention preparing for a pandemic.
“This announcement gave no answers on what will happen to other vital areas of public health like addiction, obesity and sexual health either. We went into this pandemic with health inequalities widening and life expectancy going backwards for the poorest.
"We have seen that Covid-19 has thrived on these inequalities, disproportionately impacting the poorest and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. A strong public health sector is needed more than ever.”
The new interim chief executive of NIHP, Baroness Dido Harding, said the move was "designed to strengthen our response, and to radically ramp up our fight against this disease."
Claims of cronyism have been made around her appointment, with some Labour MPs questioning the peer's qualifications for such a role.
Baroness Harding is a close friend of David Cameron, who appointed her to the House of Lords in 2014 and is married to Conservative MP John Penrose.
She was heading up the NHS Test and Trace body, and prior to that held roles in Tesco, Sainsbury's and TalkTalk.
MP Jess Phillips said: "What the hell does Dido Harding know about cervical screening, substance misuse, sexual health, contraception, smoking cessation, obesity or even pandemic planning?
"This from government who brought you the death of 10% of care home residents and long drives for eye tests."
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats health spokeswoman, said there had to be "total transparency in how appointments of this kind are made, to ensure we get the best people for the job."
She added: "Rather than focus on promoting yet another Tory insider, the government would do well to reflect on their handling of this pandemic and launch an independent inquiry to ensure we don’t repeat past mistakes.
"Many people will also be shocked by the lack of transparency around the decision to promote Tory insider Dido Harding to this pivotal role, given the Test and Trace system she was responsible for setting up is still not up to scratch."
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