 Doctors and nurses are generally paid national rates |
The health service in Devon and Cornwall will lose about �100m funding a year, according to the region's Strategic Health Authority (SHA). The authority claims in a leaked report that the region will suffer because of a government funding formula that favours London and the South East.
The market forces factor formula links the money given to NHS trusts across the country to local wage levels.
The Department of Health says it is dedicated to fair funding.
 |  It can only mean cuts in services, cuts in operations which will ultimately put lives at risk in the South West  |
The SHA reports claims the reduction in funding is directly related to low wages in Devon and Cornwall.
Doctors and nurses are generally paid according to national wage scales, so trusts in Devon and Cornwall claim they are being unfairly penalised.
The SHA report says the region will lose �102.3m overall, with the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust losing �20.5m.
Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat MP for Truro and St Austell, said: "It can only mean cuts in services, cuts in operations which will ultimately put lives at risk in the South West."
'Unavoidable differences'
In a statement to BBC News Online, the Department of Health said: "The Department is fully committed to a fair resource allocation formula.
"This must reflect differences in need in different parts of the country.
"But it must also recognise that there are unavoidable differences in the cost of providing services in different parts of the country."
The Health Secretary, Dr John Reid, is visiting Cornwall on Tuesday and it is thought local health bosses will try to discuss the possibility of the government reversing the decision
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