Health board to cut 100 admin posts in bid to plug budget hole

One hundred administration jobs at NHS Tayside are to be chopped, according to official projections.

The backroom operation cut – equivalent to 100.5 full-time posts – is part of the health board’s bid to plug a huge hole in its budget.

Meanwhile, the health secretary Shona Robison has given her clearest indication yet that Tayside could have some of its debts written off by ministers.

Tayside bosses say the reduction in its administration workforce should be achieved by April next year through natural turnover, in line with NHS Scotland’s policy of not forcing redundancy on anyone.

Overall, the number of staff at Tayside is to increase by 1.6%, with an extra 271 nurse and midwife posts.

George Doherty, director of human resources and organisational development at NHS Tayside, said: “It is important that we prioritise our spending on front line services to continue to provide highquality care to our patients.”

Audit Scotland has estimated that NHS Tayside will have to make savings of £175 million over the next five years.

Ms Robison said talks are ongoing about what to do about the £33m owed to the Scottish Government by NHS Tayside through brokerage.

Asked by The Courier about the possibility of writing off those crisis loan repayments, she said: “We will continue to have those discussions and we want to be as helpful to Tayside as we can be.”

But she warned: “Any arrangement that is made with NHS Tayside going forward will have to make sure that it doesn’t set any precedents for any other boards.”