Written question asked by Lord Maude of Horsham (Conservative) on Wednesday, 7 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 December 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 19 December 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Palliative Care (Children)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what weighting is applied to palliative care for children in the primary care trust capitation formula.

Answer: There is no specific weighting in the weighted-capitation formula, used to inform revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs), but the formula is the best available measure of need for all aspects of health care.The components of the weighted-capitation formula are used to weight each PCTs population according to their relative need (i.e. age, and additional need) for health care and geographical differences in the cost of providing health care (i.e. market forces factor).

Secondary information