North ‘could lead on health if it got funding of South’

We get £72 a head, compared to their £168

THE NORTH of England could become a shining light in health research, developing cuttingedge treatments and making scientific strides if spending on the sector was brought into line with levels in the South, a report has claimed.

The IPPR think tank has called for life sciences to be prioritised in the Government’s “levelling up” agenda as its study revealed the North received £4bn less a year in health research and development than the South.

The report said the North received £72 per head, compared to £168 per head in the South. The figures drew warnings that without closing the gap Government promises to improve life chances outside the capital and SouthEast would fail.

The Government’s investment came to £22 per head in the North, compared to £56 in the South, the report found.

Investment from the private sector was £50 per person in the

North compared to £122 in the South. But with equal investment, Chris Thomas, IPPR health fellow and lead author of the report, said the North could not only contribute more to the sector but also improve the lot of those living in the region.

“The difference would be, frankly, massive,” Mr Thomas said.

He said already there was excellence in Yorkshire, with Leeds leading the way in medical technology in diagnostics and imaging and York for health economics. He added: “A lot of those places are very good off their own back. They’ve done it without much support.”

But he stressed the health inequalities seen between the North and South could be better bridged if investment was more balanced.

Research last year showed that in 66 per cent of areas in the North, female life expectancy was lower than the area with the lowest female life expectancy in the South. The figure was 46 per cent of areas for male life expectancy.

But Mr Thomas said: “One thing we can see is where higher levels of ill-health are located, it’s not where the science is done, which seems quite strange.”

The Government released a research road map last week in which it acknowledged that “UK research and development intensity and funding is concentrated in some regions”.

It said regions outside the “Golden Triangle” of London, the South-East and the East of England lagged behind “our competitors in Northern Europe and some of our cities under-perform”.

The Northern Health Science Alliance’s chief executive, Dr Seamus O’Neill, said: “Research and innovation are key to economic growth and there has been a systematic and sustained under-funding of the North over decades. If levelling up or a commitment to post-Covid economic recovery are to go beyond rhetoric, substantial Government investment in northern assets is essential.”

The Government was contacted for comment.