Treasury and Work and Pensions

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. In fact, I was coming to that point. The answer lies with the underfunding of our local strategic health authority, and in particular north Northamptonshire. It is best explained by Sir Richard Tilt, who was the then chairman of the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland strategic health authority. In a letter to the Secretary of State for Health on 15 August 2005, he said:"““We have an impressive track record of achieving national targets and delivering financial balance. The SHA was categorised as ‘high performing’.""We are however the worst funded SHA relative to the national capitation formula which seeks to enable a fair, equitable distribution across the NHS.""Kettering General Hospital for example has a reference cost index of 89. Indeed North Northamptonshire is our most pressurised health community. Northamptonshire Heartlands PCT which covers this population (including Corby with its severe health problems) is 32 million pounds (9.9%) below capitation.””"