MSP calls for urgent cash boost to Glasgow

A LABOUR member of the Scottish parliament's cross-party health committee is calling for the executive to urgently allocate more money to address health needs in Glasgow, instead of waiting for the redistribution of funding planned for 2001.

Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh Leith, said: "Personally, I think there is a strong case for giving extra money to Glasgow now. Reports on poverty and ill-health in the city have stressed the importance of better health funding. It need not wait for the Arbuthnott formula to be finalised."

The health committee, chaired by Liberal Democrat MSP Margaret Smith, has spent eight weeks considering the Arbuthnott report on the redistribution of NHS funding, which has recommended only 2% of the #3.4 billion annual budget be reallocated.

It has concluded that the proposed redistribution does not go far enough and called for an improved formula to take more cash away from affluent areas of the country and redirect it to areas of greatest need.

"Basically, the committee is questioning whether enough account has been taken of Glasgow's special health problems," said Chisholm. "What we are saying is, don't delay the process until 2001. There is no reason why Glasgow shouldn't have more money now."

The rejection of the Arbuthnott report, named after its chairman, Strathclyde University principal Professor Sir John Arbuthnott, has clearly irritated ministers, who have insisted they will press on with its implementation regardless of the committee's concerns. That has led to accusations that the ministers are attempting to 'rubbish' the work of the health committee without proper consideration of the issues raised.

It has also been suggested that ministerial reluctance to support calls for further examination of the Arbuthnott formula is related to fear of negative reactions from areas that lose out.

Health minister Susan Deacon has, however, announced that more work is being done on the Arbuthnott formulas. It is understood that new data is to be considered, which may lead to a further reallocation in the long run.

The links between deprivation and health in Glasgow were reinforced last week with the publication of a report by Bristol university, which showed that the six sickest constituencies in the UK are all within the city's boundary.

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