It was clear as soon as it was announced that UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's unexpected decision to subject the National Health Service (NHS) in England to revolutionary change would have profound consequences for public health. The White Paper, Healthy lives, healthy people, proposes that the public health function currently based in Primary Care Trusts be fragmented (figure). Some elements will move to the Department of Health, to a division called Public Health England, while others will move into local government. Health-care planning elements might move to proposed Commissioning Consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board, although this is not explicit.