LOCAL ELDERLY POPULATION LOSE OUT IN NHS FUNDING LOTTERY

Local MP Nigel Waterson has obtained figures which show that older patients in his constituency lose out on NHS spending on strokes and cancer care compared to other parts of the country.

Official statistics show that stroke funding per patient by East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT was £663 compared to £2,116 in Hounslow, and an average for England of £934. And for cancer patients the figure in our area was £6,517 compared to £17,028 in Nottingham, and an average across the country of £8,437.

Nigel commented: “These figures are devastating. They prove what I have believed for some time – that under this Government the funding formula means that areas of the country with an older population spend less on stroke and cancer treatments.”

“Here in East Sussex we have one of the oldest populations in the UK, and the highest proportion of over-85 year olds. If anything, we should be allocated more money than areas with younger populations. Yet we are starved of resources to care for our older people. It is an absolute scandal.”

26 February 2008