DESPITE having one of the highest proportion of over 85 year olds in the North, the Vale of York receives among the lowest levels of funding per head of any northern clinical commissioning group.

That is the startling claim by York Outer MP Julian Sturdy and he's not alone in raising the matter. BMA council member Stephen Watkins this week told his association's annual conference that people in rural areas are at "a severe disadvantage" in comparison to their urban counterparts.

Now Dr Watkins is calling for a funding redistribution amounting to "hundreds of millions or even billions of pounds" to put the inbalance right.

It seems current NHS funding formulas don't take into account things like increased travel distances, the lack of economies of scale and countryside district nurses having to travel further.

This is worrying. The government may be committed to austerity measures in a bid to reduce this country's deficit, but at the outset David Cameron assured us that we're all in this together. Clearly we are not, especially those who live in the sticks.

And don't be fooled into thinking the Government’s commitment to invest an extra £8 billion into the NHS every year will help, because until the iniquitous arrangements between town and country health provisions are overhauled, the problem will simply get worse for an increasingly ageing population.

It is no surprise that providing services is more expensive in rural areas. What is a surprise is that the NHS doesn't seem to realise this.

That needs to change.