Council in line for £1m prescription bill

PRESCRIBING costs in Angus are set to land the council with a £1 million bill it “simply cannot afford”, leading to a showdown meeting between council chiefs and NHS Tayside, according to a source.

The source said: “Because of partnership working introduced by Holyrood, the council is obliged to pay a share of NHS costs.

“This would be fine ordinarily, but prescribing costs, especially for antibiotics, continue to be well above the national average, leaving the council with a bill for more than £1m that it cannot afford to pay.

“The situation is so bad the council has had to ask for a meeting with NHS Tayside to tell them the council doesn’t have the money, and NHS Tayside needs to raise the issue with the Scottish Government, or the council will do it for them.

“I would have expected the leader or deputy leader of the council to be invited to the meeting, but, worryingly, that hasn’t happened, and I would expect them to be asking why.

“Normally, this amount of money would be budgeted for, but this seems to have caught them on the hop.”

A spokesman for Angus Council said: “We work closely with NHS Tayside and our colleagues in Angus Health and Social Care Partnership and meet regularly.”

NHS Tayside said it would not comment on the matter on the basis that the council had requested the meeting.