Investing in prevention: the need to make the case now

This is the first in a series of four blogs, by PHE Chief Economist Brian Ferguson, looking at health economics and the case for investing in prevention initiatives:

I’ve recently been running a series of workshops here at PHE to talk about the key economic principles that help make the case for increasing investment in public health.

As the public health budget is required to work harder and harder, it’s vital that we address a number of questions that continue to be heard across the NHS, local government and central government:

• Does prevention save the health service money?
• Are public health initiatives really providing the best value for money?
• How can we better incentivise local authorities, NHS commissioners and health care providers to invest more in prevention and early intervention?

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