New National Institute for Health Protection created

The National Institute for Health Protection has been formally created and will start work immediately, with a single command structure to advance the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The body will bring together Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace, as well as the analytical capability of the Joint Biosecurity Centre under a single leadership team. In order to minimise disruption to the vital work dealing with the pandemic, the organisation will be formalised and operating from spring 2021.

The new organisation will support local directors of public health and local authorities on the frontline of the coronavirus response, with responsibilities including: providing support and resources for local authorities to manage local outbreaks; handling emergency response and preparedness to deal with the most severe incidents at national and local level; and providing specialistic scientific advice on immunisation and countermeasures.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “To give ourselves the best chance of beating this virus once and for all – and of spotting and being ready to respond to other health threats, now and in the future – we are creating a brand new organisation to provide a new approach to public health protection and resilience.

“The National Institute for Health Protection will bring together the expertise of PHE with the enormous response capabilities of NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre to put us in the best possible position for the next stage of the fight against Covid-19 and for the long term. I want to thank all my brilliant colleagues at Public Health England, the NHS, the Joint Biosecurity Centre, local directors of public health and their teams, contact tracers, diagnostics experts, epidemiologists, infection control teams, and every single person who has contributed to the national effort to get this deadly pandemic under control over the last eight months.”

The National Institute for Health Protection will operate under the interim leadership of Baroness Dido Harding, who will be supported by Michael Brodie, who is currently CEO of the NHS Business Services Authority.

Harding said: “Combining the UK’s world-class public health talent and infrastructure with the new at-scale response capability of NHS Test and Trace into a single organisation puts us in the strongest position to stop the spread of the virus.

“The fantastic teams in PHE, NHS Test and Trace and in local authorities have done so much over the past eight months, and I thank them all for their service now and in the future. PHE has worked incredibly well with NHS Test and Trace, and with winter ahead, the life-saving work we are doing is more important than ever. The changes announced today are designed to strengthen our response, and to radically ramp up our fight against this disease, whilst also protecting PHE’s essential work beyond Covid that is so important for the nation’s health.”

Duncan Selbie, the outgoing PHE Chief Executive, will be taking on a role as a senior advisor to the Department of Health and Social Care on global and public health.