Memorandum by Melanie Johnson MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Department of Health
(COA 59)
URBAN AFFAIRS SUB-COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO
COALFIELD COMMUNITIES
Thank you for your letter of 24 October asking
for responses to be provided to questions which have arisen concerning
the health provision within the coalfield areas. I am pleased
to provide responses to the three specific questions addressed
to me.
1. What is the Department of Health doing
to tackle the health inequalities between the coalfield areas
and the rest of the UK? Over what time period does it expect the
inequalities to have evened out?
The Department of Health does not have a specific
policy—to tackle inequalities between coalfields and the
rest of the country. However, the part of our national health
inequalities target concerned with narrowing the gap in life expectancy
between geographical areas and the average should stimulate action
that will result in faster health improvement in coalfield areas.
The history of mining is likely to mean that these will be areas
of low life expectancy.
Our approach to delivering this target is set
out in our three-year health inequalities strategy, Tackling
Health Inequalities: A Programme for Action. This sets out
action needed to be taken now to deliver the target by 2010 as
well as action that will have a longer-term impact. Health inequalities
are complex, stubborn and difficult to change and there is no
expectation of a specific timescale over which inequalities will
have evened out.
2. How does it reflect in its funding to health
authorities and primary care trusts the high levels of disability
and long-term illness in the coalfield areas?
The NHS Plan gave commitments to review
the weighted capitation formula by 2003 so that reducing inequalities
will be a key criterion for allocating NHS resources to different
parts of the country.
The review of the formula has now taken place.
The review has been carried out under the auspices of the Advisory
Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA) which has National Health
Service management, GP and academic members. The new formula has
been used for the latest round of NHS allocations.
The new need element of the formula includes
mortality measures (which measure death rates for certain age
groups compared to the national average) and morbidity measures
(limiting long standing illness ratios and disability measures).
The formula also takes some account of "unmet
need" where certain groups in the population eg socio-economically
deprived groups do not receive the same level of healthcare services
as that of others with the same health characteristics.
The new formula therefore provides a better
measure of health need in all areas.
3. Do you have any information that the Health
Action Zones are helping to reduce the inequalities?
The University of Glasgow is in the process
of producing a final report for the Department of Health on the
progress of Health Action Zones. The Department will encourage
the University of Glasgow to publish on completion.
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