RCN Concerned For Cumbria's Health Budgets

The Royal College of Nursing is warning that a multi-million pound cut to public health budgets in Cumbria and the North East, will “make health inequalities worse”.

The northern branch of the RCN has criticised plans to cut more than £13m from the region’s public health budget in January 2016.

In June, Chancellor George Osborne announced that £200m would be cut from the budgets right across England.

The RCN says this region has historically had higher public health funding in recognition of the north's "greater health inequalities".

RCN Northern Region spokesman Jake Turnbull said: “By imposing these cuts on local government, Westminster is once again showing it’s complete disregard for the needs and the North and our most vulnerable citizens. National government keeps saying that they want to put prevention at the heart of health care but their actions tell a very different story. We are already seeing a number of cuts to local preventative health programmes. These cuts will make health inequalities worse. They are hitting the poor hardest.

“It is risible that they claim that they are protecting the NHS budget but at the same time passing on NHS services to local authorities, who are then forced to cut them, because they in turn have been hit by inequitable central government settlements. The whole point of preventative health is that it saves the NHS money by keeping people well and out of hospital. It’s a false economy. By moving public health from the NHS to local authorities, the Chancellor has undertaken a sleight of hand to cover up for the fact that they have reneged on their commitment to protect the health budget.”