GWENT'S health boards will get nearly £5m from the National Assembly in an attempt to make the NHS fairer.

Health minister Jane Hutt announced yesterday that more than £11 million is to be allocated to Local Health Boards (LHB) to help reduce health inequalities in Wales.

Torfaen, Caerphilly, Newport and Blaenau Gwent will all get extra cash to spend on everything from mental health to heart disease.

The money is being distributed according to recommendations made by the standing committee on resource allocation, chaired by Professor Peter Townsend.

The aim is that health boards will benefit from targeted funding to reduce health inequalities and to improve access to health services for the people most in need in Wales.

Mrs Hutt said: "I am delighted to announce that so many projects are now getting under way to help tackle health inequalities in Wales.

"Projects will span both primary and secondary health services, including initiatives for the elderly, children, and specific schemes for mental health and coronary heart disease."

Professor Peter Townsend's recommendations on health funding are based on a need - identified during a funding review that reported in 2001 - to equalise spending across the different areas of Wales.

The funding shift has been triggered by a move away from measures - like death rates and population - towards factors like illnesses people suffer and the relative health of populations.

Gwent should benefit under the new system, known as the Townsend Formula. Under the old system Profe-ssor Townsend's review concluded that the NHS in Gwent was under-funded by at least £10 million a year. The new formula has been introduced this year, and changes are being phased in.

No health budgets in Wales' LHB areas will be cut, but the budgets of those set to benefit will increase more quickly than others until a fairer balance is achieved. Tackling health inequalities - ensuring that people have the same opportunities to access health services irrespective of where in Wales they live - is a big priority for health and social services minister Jane Hutt.

She sees Local Health Boards (LHBs), which in April took over responsibility for commissioning health services from Wales' five former health authorities, as the bodies best placed to identify health inequalities in their respective areas.

Funding has been allocated as follows: Blaenau Gwent LHB £707,000; Caerphilly LHB £2,195,000; Newport LHB £166,000; Torfaen LHB £1,800,000; Total £4,868,000