London trusts lose out in proposed formula for funding primary care

A new recommended formula for funding primary care trusts in England seems to threaten GP services in several London boroughs. The new formula has been adjusted to account for overfunding in some boroughs at present, given relative levels of healthcare need among their populations.

The recommendations, for funding in 2009-10 and 2010-11, come from the Department of Health’s advisory committee on funding primary care trusts in England. The formula aims to reflect more accurately the differences in need between areas.

But a leading health economist, John Appleby, chief economist at the healthcare think tank the King’s Fund, says that the formula will not make much difference in tackling the apparent overfunding of some London primary care trusts, such as Richmond and Twickenham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster.

“It is a sophisticated formula,” he said. But the decision whether or not to bring a primary care trust’s funding into line with its actual …