Public health laboratories keep watch for dangerous bacteria

Ministers hope to start a new health protection agency next month to bring together many of the bodies which plan for possible health emergencies.

They argue a combined agency would be better equipped to plan for disasters and one of the current protection bodies says it is confident the system will not "collapse".

The Lib Dems are now accusing the government of hiding away responses to its consultation on the plans which suggests many experts are against them.

The consultation process closed last year and the Department of Health said the 200 responses showed "widespread support for establishing the agency".

But Lib Dem health spokesman Paul Burstow said the consultation responses had been buried away in the House of Commons library but showed key concerns.

Worries

The new agency would eventually incorporate much of the current Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), the Microbiological Research Authority (MRA), the National Focus for Chemical Incidents (NFCI) and the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB).

The Lib Dems quoted the NRPB saying: "If NRPB is not a discrete entity, this networking which extends internationally is in danger of being lost, thus leading to a serious reduction in the UK ability to react to a radiological emergency."

The party pointed also to the College of Pathologists showing its concerns: "We are concerned that the magnitude of change in a short time-scale may lead to major dislocation of the present microbiological services, unless very carefully managed".

The Lib Dems stressed they were not predicting a terror disaster, but Mr Burstow said ministers were ignoring the worries of the experts who had to make the changes work.

Burstow: Ministers must listen to concerns

"They have not answered important criticisms from the people on the front line," said the Lib Dem spokesman.

"Transferring some public health laboratories to the NHS risks unnecessary fragmentation in vital public health services...

"There is a real danger that in its rush to impose change for its own sake, the government will create a complete shambles.

"We need effective public health bodies that are capable of detecting and dealing with incidents such as biological or radiological threats.

"This reorganisation is unplanned, unwise and unwanted."

'No collapse'

The PHLS last year raised concerns that while the arrangements might work out in the longer term, there were public safety concerns for the interim period.

But its director, Professor Brian Duerden, told BBC News Online it accepted the government's decision and would work to ensure the plans were properly implemented.

"I am confident that it will not collapse," said Prof Duerden.

Under the plans, the 47 PHLS laboratories around the UK will be run by local NHS trusts, rather than on a national basis.

'More effective'

Prof Duerden said the changes did make national coordination more difficult, although there were safeguards to make sure the laboratories continued to keep close links.

He added: "With what we are putting in place, every effort is being made to retain the network arrangements that feed in nationally."

On its website, the Department of Health voices its confidence in the new system, which are due to be backed with new legislation by April 2004.

It says: "The government believes that a unified agency will be able to provide more effective support for health protection and health emergency planning than can be achieved under the current arrangements...

"The partners and customers of the bodies currently providing support for health protection and health emergency planning, who will be able to look to the agency to provide support across a wider range of areas than any existing body can."