11/01/10 - Conservatives promise extra funds to tackle poor health outcomes on Teesside

Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland will receive a cash injection to improve public health standards should the Conservatives win the next election.

The Conservatives have pledged extra funding, through a ‘Health Premium’ to go direct to areas - including Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland - where public health standards most need to rise. This will ensure that areas suffering from the worst health outcomes will benefit most.

The Office for National Statistics stated in a report last year that Middlehaven ward in Middlesbrough had the lowest life expectancy - an average of 64 or 65 years – in the country.

Commenting on plan, Paul Bristow Conservative parliamentary candidate for Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland stated:

"Public health has been given low priority by Labour.  The difference between life expectancy of the richest and poorest in the UK is now greater than at any time since Queen Victoria. 

"This promise, designed to improve the health of local residents, is further evidence of our ambition for Teesside.  We are determined to make the area an even better place to live and work.''