It’s clear that environmental health professionals are crucial in identifying, preventing, and subsequently tackling outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Supplementing permanent workforce shortages through agencies isn’t only financially unsustainable, costing £20.7m in the 2022-23 financial year,5 it’s also ineffective for delivering statutory environmental health duties that require trained environmental health professionals. The new government should protect public health by adequately funding local authorities’ environmental health teams, with sufficient ringfenced funding for apprentices and trainees. This will help grow the pipeline to environmental health and encourage the next generation of environmental health professionals. Tackling the funding and workforce challenges across environmental health is vital to ensure the UK’s health is safeguarded.
