| Health cash at £1bn after £52m boost | |
Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson said the trust will receive £999 million for 2008-9 - an increase of nearly 5.5 per cent, or £51.7 million, on this year. At the beginning of the year, the PCT had a £48 million debt. In theory the extra money could wipe this out in one stroke, but although some of the extra cash will be spent on the deficit, the PCT will also use it to finance Government aims and improve patient care. A spokeswoman for the PCT said: "The PCT will finalise budgeting plans for 2008-9 in line with Government health priorities, our financial recovery plan and service modernisation initiatives. "The PCT will continue to work closely with our health care partners to address the historic debt and create a strong platform for future health service development." Mr Johnson said he had various priorities for PCTs across the country including reducing the number of cases of MRSA and clostridium difficile and making sure no-one waits more than 18 weeks for treatment after being referred. Another aim is to reduce the differences in the type and quality of health care that patients receive. Advertisement York MP Hugh Bayley said: "I would want the PCT to look at reducing health inequalities for the more deprived areas of York and North Yorkshire. Those would be places like Tang Hall, Clifton, Westfield, some pockets of deprivation in Scarborough and pockets of rural deprivation." The Government has trebled funding for the NHS since Labour came to power and this latest increase in funding is greater than inflation and will help the PCT to reduce its deficit, hopefully to zero, by the end of the financial year. "I will continue to press for patients in North Yorkshire to get the same standards of treatment and range of services as patients in other parts of Yorkshire." The Government has increased funding to PCTs nationally by £3.8 billion with all getting 5.5 per cent more. The total allocation is £74 billion.
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