Plans to cut £350,000 from spending on health services including weight management in Peterborough

Peterborough City Council receives an annual grant from the government to provide public health services which is ring-fenced, meaning it has to be spent on improving the health of residents.

Some of the services are mandatory, however, there are a number of other services the council provides which it has a choice over, such as services which aim to change behaviours which lead to poorer health outcomes.

As a result of public health funding challenges, the council is aiming to reduce spending on things such as health trainers and adult weight management services, where evidence shows that the impact on weight reduction in adults is low.

Instead, support will be focused on activities which prevent people becoming overweight including advice around diet and exercise.

A report to be put before a council scrutiny committee on July 8 states that the council will look to reduce spending on certain adult behaviour change services, specifically adult weight management, health trainers, training for health professionals, physical activity, falls prevention and outreach health checks from £442,694 to £100,000.

The remaining £100,000 would be split, with £50,000 used to support wider work on the prevention of obesity and £50,000 allocated to falls prevention and physical activity.

The report states: "It is proposed that the remaining budget for these areas (£100,000) is spent on supporting programmes of work linked to upstream factors that impact on obesity, rather than individual level services in order to have a greater population level benefit; falls prevention and physical activity."

Councillor Shabina Qayyum, cabinet member for public health and adult social care, has said: “Previous directors of public health have written to the government about the severe underfunding of public health services in Peterborough and the impact this is having on our ability to address health inequalities.

“The government is listening and in January announced an uplift in the region of £400,000 in our public health grant for the current financial year.

“However, with the demands from our growing population, and now that we have a dedicated Peterborough public health service following the conclusion of the shared service with Cambridgeshire County Council, this simply isn’t enough to continue providing all the services we have been.

“We have looked at the services we have a choice over providing and it is those where the impact is lowest, and where there are alternatives offered by the NHS, where we are proposing to reduce funding."

The council's cabinet will be recommended to approve these changes to the budget on July 15 and also award a £582,216 two-year contract for provision of smoking cessation services, with a one-year possible extension.

A public consultation on the proposed reduction in budget and service changes was undertaken from May 8 to June 25 and received 92 responses.

Figures showed that 89 per cent of respondents highly or very highly agreed that public health services should be prioritised that have the strongest evidence base for improving health outcomes.