White out

After nearly five months of waiting, the Public Health White Paper (Healthy Lives, Health People) has arrived. And, as well as filling in the public health elements of Liberating the NHS, this document also very explicitly offers itself as a response to the Marmot report on inequalities. However, its main task is to usher in more of the localism already seen in previous consultation papers. Devolving the public health function largely to local authorities is the most substantive move. Yet, once again, the devil’s in the detail and the detail is in a further consultation document, to be published next year. The same goes for the Local Health and Wellbeing Boards, the role of Public Health England in funding and commissioning, the Public Health Responsibility Deal and others. A less than considered but considerably impassioned response can be found at Health Policy Insight. More measured tones at the King’s Fund, with the HSJ and the Guardian focusing on funding and timing of transfer.