Government announces creation of new organisation, National Institute for Health Protection, and Matt Hancock gives speech about the future of public health

The government announces the creation of a new organisation called the National Institute for Health Protection. Its primary focus will be public health protection and infectious disease capability. The organisation will start work from 18 August 2020 and bring together Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre under a single leadership team. The national institute will be under the interim leadership of Dido Harding. The organisation will be formalised and be operating from spring 2021. It will report directly to the secretary of state for health and social care and support the clinical leadership of the four UK chief medical officers. The organisation will support local directors of public health and local authorities with their response to COVID-19. The responsibilities of the National Institute for Health Protection will be:

• to deal with infections and other threats
• to support local authorities to manage local outbreaks
• to manage the COVID-19 testing programme and contact tracing
• to manage the Joint Biosecurity Centre
• emergency response and preparedness to deal with severe incidents at national and local level
• research and reference laboratories
• specialist epidemiology and surveillance of all infectious diseases
• the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards
• global health security
• providing specialist scientific advice on immunisation and countermeasures.

The Department of Health and Social Care will also establish a new stakeholder advisory group to provide expert advice from leading thinkers in public health, health care and local government.

On the same day, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock gives a speech about the future of public health.  He thanks all colleagues at Public Health England (PHE) who have contributed to the national effort against COVID-19. He announces changes that aim to 'strengthen public health in the UK'. Hancock notes that the UK did not enter this crisis with the necessary capacity to respond to COVID-19, citing testing capacity as an example. The new organisation will work with the devolved administrations, the four chief medical officers and local partners. The aim is to have a 'stronger, more joined-up response'. The national institute will be 'dedicated to the investigation and prevention of infectious diseases and external health threats'. The government will be consulting widely on how to 'embed health improvement' across the board, in acknowledgement of this being another area of responsibility for PHE. Matt Hancock identifies three priority areas for the National Institute for Health Protection:

• Response: The national institute must be able to drive up testing, contact trace thousands, and continue to analyse and better understand COVID-19.
• Resilience: The government will ensure that the national institute 'has the strongest possible function for intelligence, data analytics and surveillance, and a standing capacity to act fast at scale'.
• Culture: The national institute will have a culture that is 'open, outward looking, non-hierarchical, and embraces the potential of its whole team'.