The Government promised that its £200m cuts to public health services will not affect frontline services – but a Pulse investigation has revealed that local councils are already making cutbacks to essential services.
These include those run by GP practices, such as contraceptive and sexual health services and NHS Health Checks, and facilities that GPs rely on for patient referrals, like smoking cessation.
One council – York City – has made cuts across the board, citing ‘financial constraints’. Other councils are limiting the number of long-acting reversible contraception procedures they will pay practices for. Meanwhile, a number of councils are completely discontinuing smoking cessation services.
Many of the cuts are as a result of the Government removing funding from local authority budgets.
Full story in Pulse 1 April 2016