Conservative Mayoral Candidate Boris Johnson has used a speech to propose reform of the London Health Commission, promising to ring-fence spending on public health.
Mr Johnson said it was the Mayor’s job to “support public health programmes across London, and to work with the boroughs in providing them” adding “by public health I mean all manner of means to help people to look after themselves, because all the evidence is that these preventative steps are the best way of saving colossal sums over the lifetime of the patient.”
Johnson said it was “quite wrong that the areas of greatest deprivation in London have the lowest spending on public health” claiming “Tower Hamlets spends £5.87 per head while Kensington and Chelsea spends £21.26.”
Proposed reforms include giving the London Health Commission powers to look at inequalities within boroughs.
Mr Johnson said the Mayor has “a moral and statutory duty to speak up for Londoners and he can help them by telling them frankly what kind of healthcare they are actually getting.”
Related link: Is Boris Johnson Serious?
