On the 18th May 2023, the project team held a witness seminar in London on the organisational reform of communicable disease control in the UK.
The national systems in place for the detection, prevention and control of communicable diseases have undergone repeated reform and organisation change. This witness seminar explored the role organisations have played in the development and implementation of strategies and systems to control communicable diseases. At this witness seminar, we invited expert witnesses who have been involved in the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) – including the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC), Health Protection Agency (HPA), and Public Health England (PHE) to discuss their role in this. Topics included: the role of organisations within the wider public health network; motivations for reform and impacts on disease control; and the development and use of surveillance systems.
A transcript of the event has been published and is available here.