The Royal Society for Public Health report – called Untapped Potential - reveals that up to 20% of the wider public health workforce could leave their jobs in the next five years if action isn't taken.

The report makes the case that the Government's ambition to shift from ‘hospital to community', outlined in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan for England, won't be possible without a wealth of people outside of the NHS working to keep people healthy and well.

In addition, the report argues that the NHS Workforce Strategy should be widened to include everyone who has an impact on health outcomes, with a particular focus on the wider public health workforce.

In response, Mark Elliott, president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said: ‘MPs are telling us that public health should be the Government's highest environmental health priority. Therefore, CIEH echoes the sentiments expressed in the RSPH's report that greater recognition is needed of the crucial impact that public health must have in the shift to a preventative healthcare system.

‘This includes ensuring it is fit to face these challenges now and in the coming years, and this means urgently addressing the recruitment, retention and training issues being faced in these professions.'