YOUR editorial of January 20 urges the Wigan and Bolton Health Authority to bang on the Prime Minister's door to demand more resources for all the departments of the Royal Bolton Hospital.

You can rest assured that the Health Authority misses no opportunity to remind Government that health services in Wigan and Bolton receive £12m less than their fair share of NHS resources. We would like to think that this effort has contributed to the receipt of much larger sums of extra funds to this Authority in recent years.

We can only make extra funds available for hard pressed services at the pace determined by central Government and we continue to press the case for full funding vigorously.

It would be naive to suggest, however, that when the Health Authority receives its full fair share of NHS resources, all the financial problems of local health services will disappear. The ageing of the population, the phenomenal pace of development of new medical technology and drug treatments and the ever increasing expectations of a more informed public will ensure that the demand for health care will outstrip the resources any Government is able to make available.

The more interesting debate which has not appeared in your columns is given that resources are limited, how should choices be made between competing priorities? Should any new funding be allocated to hard pressed GPs and other staff in primary care or to equally hard pressed hospitals? Should it be invested in services for children or the elderly, for those people with acute or those with chronic illnesses, for those with mental illness or those with physical illness? How do you as the editor of a successful local paper determine what health priorities your paper

will promote?

Mike Ruane

Chief Executive

Wigan & Bolton Health Authority

Editor's Note: While I sympathise with your problems, I can't imagine any of our readers being satisfied with an NHS that is under resourced, and therefore having to prioritise on differing forms of health care. Our frustrations are compounded when we hear that neighbouring authorities are better resourced, yet handle fewer patients. The issue isn't how to divide the cake, but is the cake big enough in the first place? Let's hope that our constant reminders are eventually heard, and the necessary funds are allocated.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.