Julian calls for action on fairer funding for York
July 7, 2015
Today in Parliament, Julian held the Government to account over what progress has been made on securing fairer funding for health services across York.
Speaking in the House of Commons during Health Questions, Julian asked “The disparity in health funding allocations due to the imbalance in the system which favours deprivation over age, has yet again been highlighted, this time by the BMA’s Annual Meeting a couple of weeks ago. Now having met with the Secretary of State in the last parliament I know that this is something he is looking to address. As such can he update me and the House on this issue?”
In response, the Social Care Minister, Alistair Burt MP said “Yes, age and rurality come up quite regularly in discussions about funding for the contract. It can plainly be seen that in rural areas there might be an increase in the cost but it has been quite difficult for those involved in contract negotiations to pin it down to specific evidence. But I can assure him that both age and rurality issues will remain very important for those deciding on the future contact and he can be sure it is being taken into account.”
Welcoming the Minister’s remarks, Julian said “After campaigning on this issue for five years, I am pleased that the matter is now under review. However, we must all work together to ensure that compelling evidence is provided that demonstrates that patients across York and North Yorkshire are being short-changed.“
“When the formula that allocates healthcare resources was changed many years ago, this had the effect of diverting funds away from places like York and North Yorkshire towards larger cities like Hull and Sheffield. This is simply not fair and I will continue to campaign for changes to be made so that we have the funding in place to provide the high quality healthcare that the people of York deserve”.
