YORK Central MP Sir Hugh Bayley has told a Parliamentary debate that York health services are in crisis due to Government policy.

Speaking in Parliament, he said a squeeze in NHS funding overall and a health funding "postcode lottery" which has left York unfairly funded, has resulted in A&E at York Hospital "breaking down" and more than 150 operations cancelled in just over a month.

He told the opposition debate that mental health services are "even worse" and a new facility to replace Bootham Park Hospital is urgently needed.

Sir Hugh said: "The walk-in centre was closed two or three years ago and NHS Direct has now been closed, so it is not surprising that we face these extra pressures with hundreds of thousands of extra presentations at A&E each year."

He said: "Two things have brought about this crisis. First, there has been a squeeze in funding in the NHS. As I pointed out when the Secretary of State was speaking, the NHS budget has fallen from 8.2 per cent of our GDP in 2009-10 to 7.9 per cent in 2013-14, and the situation is getting worse as we will see when the figures for this year are revealed.

"To put that fall in perspective, the difference ... is some £5 billion a year. That is the amount by which this coalition Government have cut the NHS budget.

"The Government must address not only the overall level of funding, but the way the funding is split between different health authorities. Within the former North Yorkshire primary care trust area, where all patients used to get the same level of treatment, funding in the Vale of York is just £1,062 per person as against £1,270 in Scarborough and Ryedale. "

Sir Hugh referred to mental health services in York, which last week were last week criticised in an inspection of Leeds and York Partnership, and said a lack of funding was responsible for this.

He said he had appealed for a new hospital to replace Bootham Park nearly a year ago "following an especially serious incident at Bootham Park hospital...in which a patient died".

• The latest weekly figures for A&E at York Hospital have shown that 83.7 per cent of patients were seen in four hours - below the national target of 95 per cent - meaning 360 people waited longer than four hours.

Meanwhile, there were 2,213 attendances at A&E, which is up by 47 on the previous week, and 696 emergency admissions which is up by 26. A total of 65 ambulances were left queuing outside A&E.


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