John Penrose, Weston’s MP, is celebrating victory in his long-running campaign for fairer local health funding.
For years, North Somerset’s health services got less cash per person than places like Bristol. The latest announcement puts North Somerset GPs, hospitals, and community nursing within 1% of what they should be getting, based on local population.
John’s Fairer Local Health Funding campaign began before he became Weston’s MP in 2005, when the gap was far bigger. The shortfall has been reduced steadily since then, but this is the first time it has vanished entirely.
John said: “The battle for fairer health funding goes back more than 10 years, before I became Weston’s MP , I started demanding answers from Tony Blair when he was still Prime Minister, so it’s a sweet moment now we’ve finally got it done.
“For the first time, we can say that a Westonian gets the same cash for their health as a Bristolian… And that’s how it should be.
“There are still other problems, of course. Like the rest of the NHS, Weston’s health professionals are facing rising demands from all of us local residents, so budgets are stretched. But at least now we’ve got a fair share of health cash to spend on solving the problem.”