ONE of the most significant aspects of this week's NHS National Plan is a review of the way NHS money is allocated to the regions.

The existing formula, which sends additional money to the more deprived areas of the country, is out-dated and is being looked at again.

"It would be surprising as a result of that if there were not an outcome that resulted in more recognition of places such as the North-East," said the NHS chief executive Neil McKay, himself a County Durham lad, yesterday in Bishop Auckland.

This is the NHS equivalent of the Barnett formula which decides how much central government money should be spent in regions on other vital services like education.

The Barnett formula was conjured up 23 years ago and even its creator, Lord Barnett, believes it is out-dated because Scotland and Wales get far more money per head than regions like the North-East which suffer comparable problems. Government spending in the North-East is 19 per cent lower than it is in Scotland.

Making the Barnett formula fair is part of The Northern Echo's North/South Divide campaign. But, even as recently as June when a Treasury official scoffed at the idea of amending it, we thought we were getting nowhere.

However, now that the Government has conceded that the formula allocating NHS money needs to be reviewed, it has effectively undermined its own argument in support of the Barnett formula. It has accepted the failings of the NHS formula but, illogically, insists the Barnett formula is acceptable.

What is good for the NHS in the North-East must surely apply to the other services where we are still getting a raw deal