Thwarted attempts to fluoridate England

Before the UK Government decided to take over the administration of Water Fluoridation in 2021, all proposal to fluoridate their constituents appeared to originate from Local Authorities' Health and Well Being Boards (H&WBBs) or from Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs).

The influencers following the demise of the SHAs became Directors of Public Health England (DsPH) who were "attached" to each County Council and who all spoke with the same voice on the topic of fluoridation.  Once the  DsPH had written their annual reports they were in a stronger position to suggest to the H&WBBs that although toothbrushing was desirable, fluoridation would increase the number of children free of cavities and that it was far more economical. 

A responsibility of the H&WBBs is to improve the oral health of their population.  So most H&WBBs took the bait and approved of the DsPH approaching the SoS for HSC for permission to go out to Public Consultation.

At this juncture, those opposing water fluoridation would often jump into the proposal and stop it dead in its tracks by attending meetings and sending letters to members of the H&WBBs.  This strategy worked well enough with two notable exceptions: Southampton in 2008-9 and County Durham in 2018-19.  In both cases, the South Central SHA and a team of DsPH for County Durham, Northumberland, Sunderland and South Tyneside proved too persuasive. 

The result was that South Central SHA in Southampton and South-East Hampshire ignored the majority vote against its fluoridation proposal following a Public Consultation in 2009.   In the North East of England,  the Directors of Public Health proved too influential for Councillors on the H&WBBs to state opposing views which the majority of the Board could run with.  We also noticed some hiding of the true facts by the DsPH during their presentations.

When Covid-19 arrived on the scene in early 2020, all activity regarding fluoridation ceased while Public Health staff were seconded to organise the Public Health response to the crisis.  Frustrated that new attempts at fluoridating the population had stalled, the Establishment persuaded ministers to take over the entire water fluoridation programme for England (and possibly for Wales).

In 2021, the Health and Care Bill became law.  The DHSC would henceforth manage the entire programme although they would listen to English County Councils which has been persuaded by the DsPH to "explore" fluoridation.