Vol. 427 No. 7
39 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the North Eastern Health Board is the lowest funded health board in the country with a consequential loss in services to the people in the region; and the proposals, if any, he has to bring the funds for this health board into line with the funds of the other health boards.
When comparison is made on the basis of expenditure per capita on health services, the North Eastern Health Board is the lowest. I would point out, however, that expenditure per head of population is an unweighted average and fails to take account of a number of important demographic and geographic factors. The difference in the cost of health care in each region is also influenced by other factors such as access to higher specialties, density of population and, particularly, the present stage of development of the services.
The North-Eastern Health Board is currently reviewing its services with a view to identifying the specific service areas in need of attention. Following this review, my Department will be entering into discussion with the board regarding its future needs. While the pace of advancing priority developments within the health services must have regard to the overall level of funding allocated by Government, every effort will be made to fund the agreed development needs of the Board on a phased basis.
