Matt Hancock defends appointment of Dido Harding as National Institute for Health Protection head

Ellena Cruse27 August 2020
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Matt Hancock has defended the appointment of Dido Harding to lead a new health body, saying the Government is "very lucky to have her".

The Health Secretary said Baroness Harding was "absolutely" the right person to lead the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP), a body which is leading to the dismantling of Public Health England (PHE) and which will respond to health threats including infectious diseases, pandemics and biologic weapons.

Experts have questioned whether Baroness Harding, who runs the NHS Test and Trace scheme, is the right person for the role. Dr Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said the former TalkTalk telecoms boss' appointment “makes about as much sense as (chief medical officer) Chris Whitty being appointed the Vodafone head of branding and corporate image”.

Referencing Dr Head's comments, Mr Hancock was asked during a BBC interview whether she was the best person for the job.

He replied: "Absolutely, she’s simply the best person who could be doing this job now.

Matt Hancock has backed Baroness Harding
PA

"She has enormous experience both in the private sector running very large organisations and this is a very large organisation, now with a budget of over £10 billion.

“Also in the NHS she’s been the chair of NHS Improvement, she’s been expanding and building that testing capacity... the test and trace system that is so effective in finding people now and asking them to self-isolate, so we’re very lucky to have her giving this public service at this critical time.”

In another interview with LBC, Mr Hancock added: “I think having somebody with enormous experience, both running very large organisations in the private sector and as the chair of the board of NHS Improvement last three-and-a-half years, she has what it takes to lead this organisation, to get it set up.

Baroness Harding will head up the body
EPA

“The key thing now is to make sure that there is a seamless impact on the coronavirus response, actually that that is strengthened, and I think her leadership will be an important part in that.”

NIHP will begin work immediately but will become formally operational next spring to reduce disruption during the pandemic, it was announced.

It will merge the Covid response work of PHE, NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre in the “first step towards becoming a single organisation”, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

The Government has faced criticism over the prospect of breaking up the PHE – which was established in 2013 under Conservative health reforms – in the middle of a pandemic.

Professor Patty Kostkova, director of University College London’s Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergency, tweeted: “In 2013, the Tories restructured the world-class scientifically independent Health Protection Agency and created underfunded Public Health England while cutting public health operation at local level.

“The decision to abolish PHE in the middle of the deadly Covid-19 pandemics without consultation while the UK Parliament is not sitting is scandalous. Setting up a new National Institute for Health Protection by a merge with dysfunctional private NHS Track and Trace operation under leadership of Dido Harding, who has no expertise in public health, seems yet another purely politically motivated move to shift blame for Government’s failures over handing of the Covid-19 crisis.”

Labour’s shadow public health minister Alex Norris said: “The structural reorganisation that Matt Hancock has announced is a desperate attempt to shift the blame after years of cutting public health budgets, when the real shift we need is towards an effective local test and trace system that delivers mass testing and case finding.”

However, the Health Secretary defended the new body in an interview with Sky News.

He said: "My responsibility is to make sure that the pandemic response is the best it possibly can be and that’s why I’ve taken this decision now.

“Actually one of the lessons from the crisis I think for me is that if something is the right thing to do then delaying doing it is the wrong thing.

“We’ve now got Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace, we’ve got a new Joint Biosecurity Centre, working separately so in order to keep people safe, in order to have the very best response, we need to bring these organisations together now.

“I hope this gives a long-term future for all those working on the pandemic response.”

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