NHS in England spends £400 less per patient than Scotland as 'health apartheid' widens

Scots have £400 more of taxpayers' money per head for health and social care than the English.

Official figures showed yesterday that the difference between NHS and social spending on the two sides of the border means everyone in Scotland has 20 per cent extra.

This means Scots have more hospital beds, a higher ratio of GPs to patients and more qualified clinical staff in their health service.

The report from the Office for National Statistics said that total expenditure on health and personal social services during 2006-07 in England was £1,915 for each person. In Scotland the figure was £2,313.

Scots also have on average 16 per cent more to spend per head on NHS drugs than the English.

The cost of their prescription drugs is on average £191.40 a year compared with £164.40 in England.

This form of 'health apartheid' means Scots are routinely prescribed drugs on the NHS that are not available free across the border.

The illustration of the scale of the gap in health spending between England and Scotland was set out in a volume of health statistics published by the Government yesterday.

It comes amid growing tension over the way public money is directed towards Scotland. Tory leader David Cameron has promised to tackle the 'West Lothian question', the system that allows Scots MPs to have a say on NHS and social spending in England while English MPs have no equivalent input on Scottish affairs.

Concern has centred on the way that key NHS drugs - to treat conditions such as Alzheimer's and lung cancer - are available on the NHS in Scotland but not in England.

The number of hospital beds available for Scottish and English patients is also affected. There were 3.5 daily hospital beds for every 1,000 people in England in 2006, the analysis showed, but 5.6 in Scotland.

The ONS warned that 'comparisons between countries have to be treated with caution because of differences in the classification of services'.

However officials confirmed that health and social spending in England in 2006-07 was lower than in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

The publication of the figures triggered calls to correct the imbalance in spending between England and Scotland and for a revision of the Barnett formula.

The Barnett formula was the system developed in the 1970s under which Scots received £1,500 a year more each of taxpayers' money to compensate for not getting devolution.

Jill Kirby, of the think-tank Centre for Policy Studies, said: 'These figures confirm that we have a two-tier health system and that the English are on the wrong side of the bargain.