28/04/11
If Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) are abolished, as proposed by the Health and Social Care Bill, responsibility for fluoridation schemes would transfer to local authorities.
Fluoridation would be managed under the local authorities' Health and Wellbeing Boards and a new body, Public Health England, would oversee the management of schemes.
The Department of Health has assured the water industry that all legal responsibilities for fluoridation, including liaison with water companies and existing guidance and practice, would remain valid. The industry would, as now, be indemnified against its costs.
Timescales are tight, with SHAs due to disappear in April 2012, and regulations would be required once the Bill became law. Interim measures may be needed to manage any transition.
