HEALTH services in North Yorkshire are today better off to the tune of £50 million thanks to a major Government investment.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn has announced a 9.8 per cent funding boost for services in the county.

This inflation-busting hike will give North Yorkshire Health Authority an extra £50.7 million to spend next year taking total spending to £566.8 million.

After inflation, the increase is still worth an extra £37 million per year, a "real terms" increase of 7.16 per cent.

The investment has been met with delight by bosses at North Yorkshire Health Authority who said the extra cash was a "very good increase in resources".

John Grimes, director of finance at North Yorkshire Health Authority, hailed the increase as very good news.

He said: "We have only just seen the figures emerging. Obviously they are very good news.

"This extra cash is a good increase in resources. The task now is to look at the expectations behind this increase. That will become clear in the next few days."

The increase has been partly-funded by an extra £1 billion which Chancellor Gordon Brown handed out to health services in last week's pre-budget report.

Mr Milburn also announced that, from July next year, any North Yorkshire patient who has been waiting for more than six months for heart surgery will be offered the choice of treatment at a NHS hospital in another area,the private sector or even abroad.

The health authority will have to foot the bill as the funding it would normally have used to pay for the operation will "follow the patient".

Mr Milburn said: "These extra resources will help cut waiting times for treatment and build up the local health service with more doctors and nurses.

"Today's allocation will also help us continue the fight against cancer and coronary heart disease two of the country's biggest killers. But investment must come with reform."

But Tory Shadow health Secretary Liam Fox claimed Labour's increased spending had made little difference to the NHS.

He set out detailed figures on the effect of last year's spending, which he said suggested "the NHS is at a standstill in the funding of core services".

Updated: 08:57 Friday, December 07, 2001