CUTS to public health budgets will exacerbate health inequalities in east London, it has been claimed.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in London has criticised government plans to cut £40m from the amount given to local authorities from January 2016.

In Waltham Forest, £941,000 will be sliced from the health budget whilst £2,096,000 is cut in Hackney.

Redbridge will see a total of £838,000 cut.

Tower Hamlets is one of the worst affected boroughs with a total reduction of £2,239,000.

Chancellor George Osborne announced in June that £200m across England would be cut this year from local authority run public health budgets.

A recent consultation has revealed where the government plans to save the cash.

London has historically had higher public health funding in recognition of the greater health inequalities in the city. But, the Tories have proposed a blanket 6.2 per cent reduction in all areas.

Public health budgets were transferred to local authorities from the NHS in April 2013.

RCN London regional director Bernell Bussue said: “The Government keeps telling us they want to put prevention at the heart of health care but with another £40m cut from London’s public health budget they are storing up problems for the future.

“These cuts will make health inequalities worse and disproportionately hit harder to reach communities in inner city boroughs.

“It is no good claiming to protect the NHS budget but then making huge cuts to local authority services which are there to keep people well and out of hospital. The health service will in the long term end up paying for these savings many times over.”