Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘I’m sorry it happened – but I can’t apologise for others’
THE chairman of NHS Tayside said today he is “deeply sorry” for recent financial woes the health board has faced.
Professor John Connell, who took up the role in November 2015, spoke exclusively to the Tele following three months which have seen the board’s financial director retire under a cloud of controversy.
The board has been accused of “cooking the books” for six years, with £5.3m of “eHealth” money “hidden away” over six years.
Audit Scotland discovered that loans from NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) were not repaid and instead kept in accounts to give a “more favourable” financial impression. Finance director Lindsay Bedford retired last month when the revelations came to light.
Professor Connell claimed today the current board had “inherited a difficult situation”. He said: “NSS transferred funds that were designated for the national eHealth spend to Tayside, to hold on its behalf. This wasn’t money meant to be spent in Tayside, and NHS Tayside was not given money to be spent on eHealth that it didn’t spend.
“It was asked to hold money and return it in the next financial year.
“In 2012/13 and 2013/14 the money was paid over and then repaid back to NSS. That money, when it was in NHS Tayside’s accounts, made the accounts look better. In 2015/16, the same happened. Money was transferred to NHS Tayside that should have been repaid back. That didn’t happen and it made the accounts look better than they would have been.
“The financial mismanagement and misrepresentation was not visible to the board. It was clearly concealed from scrutiny. I find it difficult to see how members of the board can pick up something that no one else had picked up, because it had been misrepresented.
“I’m deeply sorry it happened. Am I personally responsible and should I apologise personally for a practice going on for three years before I was chairman? Again, I’m very sorry it happened, but I can’t apologise for what other people have done.
“Chief executive Lesley McLay inherited a very difficult situation in 2014. She has done a good job in trying to simplify our finances, identify where we are overspending and put in place changes that will take time to have effect.”
The Tele asked if Mr Bedford’s resignation had been to avoid further scandal, or if he “jumped before he was pushed”. Mr Bedford and the finance director of NSS were both