"HUGE STEP FORWARD" FOR CORNISH NHS FUNDING (Julia Goldsworthy)

Julia Goldsworthy <info@juliagoldsworthy.org>

"HUGE STEP FORWARD" FOR CORNISH NHS FUNDING

December 8, 2008 5:30 PM

A new funding formula for health will see Cornwall receive an additional £94 million worth of funding over the next 2 years.

Lib Dem MPs in Cornwall led the parliamentary campaign to secure the new funding formula. They have welcomed this announcement as a 'huge step forward,' but say that more still needs to be done to close a funding gap that has widened in the county following decades of underfunding.

The changes are worth more than £45 million per year, and result from a review of the health funding formula that was secured by the Liberal Democrat MPs in Cornwall 3 years ago.

Previously, Conservative and Labour Governments had tied NHS funding to low local wage rates in Cornwall. Liberal Democrat MPs have described the change in formula as "an admission that the previous formula was unfair."

Commenting, Julia Goldsworthy MP said:

"We have secured substantial extra funding for Cornwall's Health Service - and that has to be welcomed. Today's announcement is a battle won, but the war is far from over when it comes to the funding of Cornwall's health service. Today's announcement shows the Department of Health finally admitting what campaigners in Cornwall have known for decades - that our services have been desperately underfunded.

"People in Cornwall aren't asking for better health funding than the rest of the country, but we do deserve a fair share. We now know the scale of the problem, now the government must act to resolve it, sooner rather than later."

Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro and St Austell, added:

"Through sheer hard work we have won substantial additional funding for Cornwall's hospitals. But under the formula changes it could take years to eliminate the underfunding the government now admit has been in place under both Conservative and Labour Administrations.

"The Cornish MPs are very proud of what we have achieved today, but there is a lot more to be done to address the legacy of years of unfair funding for Cornish hospitals."