North East Public Health Cuts Will "Hit Poorest Hardest"

Nurses warn that a multi million pound cut to North East public health budgets will “make health inequalities worse”

The Royal College of Nursing in Northern region has published new figures which show the sheer scale of the cuts to the former NHS budget, which has been transferred to local authorities.

Chancellor George Osborne announced in June that £200m across England would be cut from local authority run public health budgets in January 2016

The UK Faculty of Public Health has said that services affected by the cutbacks could include school nursing and other child health services, suicide prevention and domestic violence prevention, drug and alcohol, sexual health, weight loss support, smoking cessation services and wider mental health provision including befriending services for older people.

RCN Northern Region spokesman Jake Turnbull said:

“By imposing these cuts on local government, Westminster is once again showing it’s complete disregard for the needs and the North and our most vulnerable citizens. National government keeps saying that they want to put prevention at the heart of health care but their actions tell a very different story. We are already seeing a number of cuts to local preventative health programmes. These cuts will make health inequalities worse. They are hitting the poor hardest.

“It is risible that they claim that they are protecting the NHS budget but at the same time passing on NHS services to local authorities, who are then forced to cut them, because they in turn have been hit by inequitable central government settlements. The whole point of preventative health is that it saves the NHS money by keeping people well and out of hospital. It’s a false economy. By moving public health from the NHS to local authorities, the Chancellor has undertaken a sleight of hand to cover up for the fact that they have reneged on their commitment to protect the health budget.”

For the first time, the RCN Northern region today reveals how Central Government cuts will hit the NE:

Local authorities

Total 2015/16 PH allocation

Indicative revised allocation (original minus 6.2%)

Funding cut (£000s)

Darlington

8,399

7,878

521

Hartlepool

9,247

8,674

573

North Tyneside

12,481

11,707

774

South Tyneside

14,309

13,422

887

Northumberland

15,908

14,922

986

Gateshead

16,837

15,793

1,044

Middlesbrough

17,776

16,674

1,102

Sunderland

23,786

22,311

1,475

Newcastle upon Tyne

24,050

22,559

1,491

County Durham

50,674

47,532

3,142

England

3,231,234

3,030,897

200,337