NHS gets £53m to help with pressures of COVID
NHS Tayside will receive an additional £52 million from the Scottish Government to help health and social care services cope with growing coronavirus pressures.
The £52,410,000 funding allocated to NHS Tayside, like boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships across Scotland, will go towards COVID-related costs such as additional staffing or sickness expenditure, enhanced infection prevention and control measures, and the purchase of PPE.
Scotland’s health boards will receive a total of £1.1 billion in additional funding, which will also be designated to help health services prepare for the winter months.
Announced on Tuesday, health secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The health and social care sector has a critical frontline role in responding to the single greatest public health crisis of our lifetimes, and I want to pay tribute to all staff involved for their heroic efforts to overcome the many challenges presented by this pandemic.
“As we continue to safely remobilise our health and social care sector, the Scottish Government is taking action to support services’ capacity to deal with the ongoing presence of COVID-19, and continue preparations for the wider pressures of the winter season.
“This funding ensures the sector will continue to receive the support required to deal with the additional challenges of the pandemic, whilst still delivering the vital health, social care and hospital-based services the public rely on every day.”
Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for the Perthshire South and Kinross-shire constituency, welcomed the news that the Scottish Government is making the further £52m available to NHS Tayside.
Speaking after the announcement, she said: “I am delighted to be able to welcome the news from the Scottish Government’s health secretary that over £50m in additional funding is being made available to NHS Tayside to support additional COVID-19 related spending across health and social care services in Tayside.
“This funding is part of a package of support exceeding a billion pounds that is being distributed around the country following a detailed review of the financial implications of COVID-19 across the sector and ensures that frontline heath and care services will continue to receive the support needed as we continue to combat this global pandemic.”
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “We welcome this funding which will support COVID-19 related spending across health and social care services in Tayside.”