The NHS is not at its core a prevention service.
Most PH -- especially around the building blocks of health -- is done by local authorities (context is set by national policy). The PH grant from central gov't has seen nine consecutive years of cuts, coming to a 24% per-person real-terms reduction in PH funding. This has fallen unequally on more deprived communities. Yes, even through COVID.
The tub won't stop overflowing until someone turns off the tap