The Health Service Journal reports that diverging health policies in England and Wales are causing English hospitals to lose millions of pounds.
The Welsh Assembly government has instructed local health boards, including those that use English hospitals, not to pay for elective treatment unless it is authorised in advance. Even then they will only pay a negotiated price rather than the tariff under payment by results, the system by which English hospitals are required to charge, although cross-border agreements have established that the Welsh commissioners should pay in this way.
Separation of the nations of the UK by governance, called devolution, constantly works against the interests of England. Funding across the UK, decided by the British government, ensures that England (£6,762) gets the lowest funding per head and Wales (£7,666) is more generously funded. The Welsh Assembly Government has used this subsidy, paid for by English taxpayers, to abolish prescription charges but refuses to pay its due to the financially strapped English Health Service that its citizens use.
Scilla Cullen Chairman of the Campaign for an English Parliament asks “how many English patients’ health is being put at risk by the actions of the Welsh Commissioners?” and “When will so-called English MPs fight against this constitutional discrimination against their constituents”
The only way this discrimination can be addressed is by a dedicated Parliament for England.
End of Press Release.
For more details and added comment contact:
Michael Knowles: Head of CEP Media Union
Tel: 01260 271139 Email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk
or
Scilla Cullen, CEP Chairman,
Tel: 01438 83315 Email: scilla.cullen@thecep.org.uk
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