- Wokingham ranks first with the NHS receiving £1,777 per capita.
- Reading comes in second with £1,842 per capita.
- Bath and North East Somerset is third.
A new study has revealed that Wokingham spends the least on public health.
The study by online vape retailer Vape Globe analysed 2023 Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) data to determine the local authorities receiving the least NHS funding per resident.
Wokingham comes in first place as £1,777 per capita was spent on the NHS in 2023, as opposed to the national average of £2,263 per capita. Comprised in the Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), Wokingham is the least funded local authority in the country and one of three in the top 10 to belong to the same ICB, the others being Reading and West Berkshire.
Reading is second, with £1,842.48 spent on the NHS per capita. It is part of the Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire ICB; Reading’s total funding amounts to approximately £321,004,235 with a population of 174,224.
Bath and North East Somerset ranks third by a whisker with £1,864 of NHS funds per capita. Part of the NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB, the area is one of two comprised in this ICB that make the top ten, the other being Swindon in tenth place.
Further down on the list, York comes in fourth place with £1,877 per capita. It is part of the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB.
The top five closes with Bracknell Forest, with NHS funding amounting to £1,889 per capita. Despite being higher than the four positions above, this local authority has seen the lowest amount of total funds in the top 10 at £235,466,109 because of its lower population of 124,607.
On the other side of the list Blackpool is the local authority with the highest funds per capita spent on the NHS, £3,144.
Islington comes in second with £2,772 per capita. Part of the North Central London ICB, the top five also includes Camden, in fifth place, another local authority part of the same Care Board.
Knowsley and Wirral, comprised of the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, are in third and fourth place with £2,768 and £2,721 per capita spent on the NHS, respectively.
| Top five local authorities where the NHS is most funded in the UK | |||
| Rank | Local Authority Area | NHS Integrated Care Board | NHS funding (£ per capita) |
| 1 | Blackpool | Lancashire and South Cumbria | 3,144.37 |
| 2 | Islington | North Central London | 2,772.15 |
| 3 | Knowsley | Cheshire and Merseyside | 2,768.24 |
| 4 | Wirral | Cheshire and Merseyside | 2,721.46 |
| 5 | Camden | North Central London | 2,696.15 |
A spokesperson for Vape Globe commented on the findings: “The study highlights significant disparities in NHS funding across the UK, with some local authorities receiving significantly less per capita funding than others, resulting in certain councils dealing with worse financial positions than average, forcing some to invest in failed commercial dealings.
“Wokingham, with the most underfunded NHS within the UK, is one of these. The underfunding highlighted in the data is of little surprise as Wokingham Borough Council was close to declaring bankruptcy, after overspending £3.6m in the past 12 months, and needing to find £15m worth of cuts this year with the NHS being starved of vital finding. Above everything these findings underscore just how serious this problem is, and will remain to be, throughout certain parts of the UK.”
