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Health Inequalities

I think that all Labour Members present could give figures for our areas and show that we are underfunded not only with our health allocation, but in local government. That is important because of the way in which they interact and affect each other. If we are to tackle health inequalities, we must also tackle other areas of deprivation. I appreciate that it is not in the purview of the DOH to review local government funding, but, as Sir Donald Acheson made clear and as Wanless has re-emphasised, we will not reduce health inequalities through the NHS alone. The two Departments must tackle the problem jointly. To continue the double whammy of underfunding, PCTs and local authorities serving the same local population will mean that those populations will continue to suffer health and social inequalities. The debate is timely because this afternoon the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce the comprehensive spending review for 2008-11, which will allocate health and local government resources nationally. In his 1998 report, Sir Donald Acheson said that only three of his 39 recommendations related directly to the NHS. The most important of those three was the need for a"““more equitable allocation of resources””" within the NHS.