A record £135 billion investment in the NHS was announced today.

The money is the biggest increase in funding for the NHS and will be divided among primary care trusts.

The average NHS funding per person will rise from £907 in 2002 to £1,388 in 2008. Health Secretary John Reid said no PCT would get less than an 8.1 per cent increase in cash over the next two years.

But patient groups and NHS managers in London will say some areas are still not getting enough money to improve the health of their communities and achieve government targets on waiting times.

London has some of the most deprived and poorest communities in the country but only one PCT in the capital is among the top 30 for the biggest increases in funding.

Dr Reid said the areas of greatest need would receive more money. He told Parliament: "This is an historic level of sustained funding for the NHS across England. I am making sure that the most deprived areas, where there are appalling inequalities in life expectancy and concentrated problems of disease such as lung cancer or heart disease, receive extra investment."

Each area's allocation is calculated per person, age of the population, deprivation and health need.

Projected populat ion growth has also been taken into account for the first time, using formulas provided by the Office of National Statistics.

A target figure is set for each PCT and most of London-has exceeded this. Traditionally, the capital has received more than its fair share but patient groups will point to pockets of severe deprivation where residents can are more likely to die from cancer, find it harder to register with a GP and have a shorter life expectancy than elsewhere in the capital.

Tower Hamlets, Newham and City and Hackney have some of the worst health problems in the UK and will receive increases in funding of more than nine cent.

In London, Barking and Dagenham will get the biggest increase in funding, up 26.3 per cent over the next two years.

In comparison, relatively affluent areas such as Westminster, Richmond, Twickenham and Wandsworth will see lower increases but still get more than 10 per cent above their fair share, according to the figures.

Nationally Easington, in the North-East, has come out best with an increase of 32.3 per cent.

Health Minister John Hutton said: "The NHS is certainly delivering in London - there have been rapid improvements.

"Waiting times have come down, access to accident and emergency has improved and survival rates from the big killers such as cancer are increasing rapidly.

"The NHS is getting better in London but the pressures are high and that is characteristic of a capital city.

"This is a very good settlement for London and I would be very surprised if PCT chief executives say it is a bad settlement.

"More resources than ever before are going into London."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in