3 more NHS boards admit siphoning off charity donations
Health board spent charity donations on ‘heroin’ plan
THREE more Scots health boards have been using charity cash to fund routine services.
NHS Lothian, NHS Highland and NHS Ayrshire and Arran have approved the use of endowment funds for staff training, equipment and beds.
NHS Highland is even considering spending £246,000 from its charity pot on a new car park.
The news follows our revelations that NHS Tayside, currently under investigation over the use of its endowment funds, had used charity money on IT systems.
Yesterday’s Daily Mail
Yesterday, we also told how £100,000 from an NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde endowment fund – financed by donations, including bequests – was spent on plans for a heroin ‘shooting gallery’.
Today, we can reveal other health board spending includes £640,000 by NHS Lothian from its endowment fund on a staff training scheme in 2016. NHS Highland is spending £160,000 on training ‘physician associates’, who work under the supervision of a doctor. The board is also considering using almost £250,000 of its charity donations for 300 new car parking spaces.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran spent more than £500,000 of donations in 2016 on a new day surgery unit at University Hospital Crosshouse, Kilmarnock.
We can also reveal major spending using charity funds last year included £695,000 by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on defibrillators and £118,000 on new electric beds and mattresses.
Dr Tracey Gillies, medical director at NHS Lothian, said: ‘A £640,000 contributory grant was awarded by the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation to help fund innovative training for staff to improve care.’
An NHS Highland spokesman said: ‘The endowments fund committee agreed to contribute to the cost of four physician associates for two years.’
NHS Ayrshire and Arran chief executive John Burns said: ‘In keeping with volunteers’ wishes, an area was funded to provide a comforting environment for patients.’ A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: ‘Endowment funds are for patient and staff amenities or research which would not normally be provided from NHS funds.’
Health Secretary Shona Robison last week appointed a new management team at NHS Tayside.
But the latest revelations place further doubts over the SNP’s management of the health service. Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘It’s inevitable there will be more scrutiny on where endowment funds are being spent elsewhere. We need full transparency.’
Scottish Labour health spokesperson Anas Sarwar said: ‘The situation at NHS Tayside is a national scandal – and it is clear other health boards are also desperately short of funding. Shona Robison has lost control. Her position is now untenable.’
Miss Robison said: ‘NHS Scotland endowment funds operate within legal frameworks regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator and we expect trustees to comply fully with the legislation.’