Public health spending will be cut by 4% a year in real terms, as part of the government’s spending review.
Total spending on public health will fall from £3.4bn in 2015-16 to £3.1bn in 2020-21.
Keeping the budget in line with inflation would have seen spending rise to around £3.8bn over this period, so this equates to real terms cuts of about £138m per year on average.
Total public health spending was planned to be £3.6bn in 2015-16, until the government announced an in-year cut of £200m.
Full story in The Nursing Times 26 November 2015