NHS funding: Many parts of England not getting their 'fair share,' claims report

The Public Accounts Committee has found that some areas of the country receive more than £100 per person below what they were entitled to

Some areas of the country receive more than £100 per person below what they were entitled to (Getty)

Many parts of England are not getting their “fair share” of health funding, the influential Public Accounts Committee has said.

In a warning to the Department of Health and NHS England, committee chair Margaret Hodge said that the Government was failing to provide “equal access for equal need”.

In a new report, the committee found that funding for some areas of England was more than £100 per person below what they were entitled to.

Funding allocations to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and local authorities are determined based on health need, using a formula which takes into account population size as well as other factors such as life expectancy.

Some areas receive more money than they are entitled to under the latest funding formula and efforts have been made to rebalance spending. However, Ms Hodge said that the pace of change had been “very slow”.

She said there were “huge variations” across the country, with Corby receiving £137 per person below its fair share, and West London receiving £367 per person above it. Overall, around two fifths of CCGs and three quarters of local authorities were receiving five per cent below or above their target funding allocation, the committee said.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We are increasing the health budget by billions each year and the NHS has changed the way it gives money to local areas so that it better reflects population size and targets areas of deprivation.”