Every man woman and child in Beverley and Holderness has less spent on their health than nearly anywhere in the rest of the country, according to evidence revealed by Graham Stuart MP.
Residents are hit twice as the Primary Care Trust receives around £85 less per person than the national average because it falls foul of a funding formula and an historic process which sees more cash going to other areas.
In fact only two PCTs in the England have a lower per person health spend.
Now Graham has vowed to act to help the PCT close the funding gap.
Graham said: “While the PCT here must be commended for doing such a good job with so little, it is simply not right that the residents of Beverley and Holderness have less available for their health than virtually anyone else in the country.”
And he added: “This formula appears to have been developed to favour certain key areas in the country which simply do not face the same burden of need as the East Riding.”
Health funding is calculated using a complex formula. The formula takes account of the population and then adjusts it for things like the overall age, unavoidable cost difference and additional needs which an area may have.
The total population number for the PCT is weighted using this formula to arrive at a figure known as the ‘unified weighted population’.
As a result, East Riding PCT, with a population of 336,700 has a ‘unified weighted population for the purposes of the allocation of 300,199 for the year 2009/10.
In neighbouring Hull the formula means the population of 250,000 (according to the PCT annual report) becomes a ‘unified weighted population of 316,634.
Graham added: “What all this means is that across the whole of Beverley and Holderness the amount of money made available to the PCT for each person’s health care is just £1,235.26 a year.
“In the modern world of high-tech health care that is not a lot of money.”
And he added: “I am taking the matter up in the House of Commons and will be fighting to make sure the residents of Beverley and Holderness are not treated like second class citizens when it comes to something as vital as health care.”
The best source for per capita funding is the Health Select Committee public expenditure report. Based on the 2008/09 financial statements for Hull PCT and East Riding of Yorkshire PCT and the Department of Health PCT Allocations Expositions Book.
The first stage in determining each PCT’s allocation is the calculation through the unified weighted population. This takes an estimate of the PCT’s population (based on Office for National Statistics 2006 projections), and adjusts it for factors such as age, additional need and unavoidable cost differences. The population figure is then further “normalised” and weighted with the objective of reducing avoidable health inequalities.
In 2008/09, East Riding PCT received net parliamentary funding per person (actual population) of £1235.26 (£415,912,000/336,700). Hull PCT received net parliamentary funding of £1822.89 (£455,722,000/250,000).
Even under the allocation system, East Riding PCT has one of the worst deals in England, although so does Hull.
Only two PCTs, Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire and Barnsley, are more under-funded, percentage-wise, than their target under the allocation formula.
Were East Riding PCT to get its “fair” share according to the formula, it would need to be allocated a further £28.4 million in 2009/10 – £84 per actual person.
By contrast, many London PCTs, such as Richmond and Twickenham, Westminster, and Kensington and Chelsea are substantially over-funded according to the allocation formula.
