No extra health cash in cold season ahead
Chiefs agree to dip into reserves to pay for services
Health chiefs have said Perth and Kinross faces a challenging winter with no additional funding for its winter plan from the Scottish Government.
Perth and Kinross Integration Joint Board (IJB) has agreed to dip into its reserves for an additional £1.1 million to help support services this winter.
The move has left the IJB’s finances vulnerable, reducing its reserves from its desirable two per cent to 0.6 per cent.
At a meeting of Perth and Kinross IJB on Friday, October 27, the board was told it had to balance the need of supporting services over the winter with that of its financial position.
Outlining the winter plan to the board, head of health, Evelyn Devine, said: “In the absence of Scottish Government funding for 2023, we in Perth and Kinross will be refining, enhancing and improving processes, promoting staff resilience while providing limited additional increased services until the end of March 2024.
“Our ask is that we continue to invest in the additional seven beds open in Tay Ward and continue to look at the expansion of our early discharge project.”
A further £1.1m of non-recurring funding was agreed. The board agreed to reduce the IJB’s general reserve level from £2.7m to £1.6m to fund the winter plan.
She added: “The winter is not predictable yet. We’re at the very edges of it just now so we will have to be prepared to maybe look at more mitigation in the future as we move forward through the winter.”
Acting chief financial officer, Donna
Mitchell, told the board: “We have had to balance off over the need of supporting our services over the winter with that of our financial position.”
She added: “The implication of the approval today is that our reserves will be reduced to 0.6 per cent which is obviously way below our two per cent desirable level.
“I would also caveat that’s based on our forecast position which is vulnerable to any other changes that we may not yet have built in or been aware of. So it is a difficult position for us financially but that balanced with the need of the services to be maintained over winter time has had to be addressed.”
Conservative Almond and Earn ward councillor David Illingworth asked if extra beds were always part of the winter plan.
Mrs Devine said: “During winter we always plan for surge beds across acute and community services but obviously the additionality isn’t there to support that this year from a Scottish Government perspective.”
He then asked what the Scottish Government financial contribution had been in previous years.
The health chief estimated “it was roughly around £800-900,000”.
Perth and Kinross has an ageing population, which is said to place a growing demand on health and social care services.
Mrs Devine said: “In 2019 there were 36 adults over the age of 65 for every 100 people of working age. This year (2023) there are just under 40 older adults per 100 people of working age, and by 2030 there are predicted to be just under 50 older adults per 100 people of working age. “
A S c o t t i s h G ov e r n m e nt spokesperson said it did not routinely allocate specific additional funding to individual areas for winter pressures.
The spokesperson said: “We have jointly published with COSLA our winter plan, which sets out a whole system approach to responding to a surge in demand for health and social care services and the actions to help relieve pressure points across the system.
“The plan comes with new funding measures to support the health and social care system this winter. This includes a £50 million funding boost for Scottish Ambulance Service recruitment and up to £12 million to expand Hospital at Home.
“We provide boards with a baseline funding allocation but do not routinely allocate specific additional funding to individual areas for winter pressures.”
A spokesperson for the Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership said: “NHS Tayside, the Health and Social Care Partnerships of Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross, Scottish Ambulance Service and other key stakeholders are engaging in a collaborative approach towards preparedness and planning for winter 2023/24.
“Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership ( PKHSCP) faces unique challenges over the winter period with a growing number of older people which means that our population can be more unwell when they require care and treatment and have a more complex mix of health conditions.
“The PKHSCP winter plan focuses on continuing programmes of work that are making a positive difference to people’s lives, using existing funding to maintain people at home wherever possible throughout the winter and, where this is not possible, supporting people to return to their home or home environment from hospital as soon as they are well enough to do so.”