City denied fair share of NHS funding: Leader

'CHANGE FORMULA OF FUND ALLOCATION'

- KIRSTIE MCCRUM

PLYMOUTH’S share of NHS funding must be adjusted to fix ‘health inequality’ in the city compared to the rest of the county, council leader Tudor Evans has said.

Cllr Evans has said NHS Devon should review the way in which health funding is allocated to Plymouth, to “urgently address health inequality across the city” – which he says has been exacerbated by a decade of NHS underfunding.

Statistics show that men in Plymouth live 2.3 years less than in Devon and woman live 2.5 years less. In Plymouth, levels of mortality in under-75s due to causes that are considered entirely preventable are 16% higher than the rest of England – and 52% higher than the rest of Devon.

Cllr Evans said: “Currently funding is allocated across the county by Devon Integrated Care Board. The ICB is a body that aims to join up health and care services and make sure that everyone has the same access to services and gets the same outcomes from treatment.

“They oversee how money is spent and make sure health services work well and are of high quality. The Devon ICB use a model called ‘Fair Shares Funding’.”