The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Labour argues Robison’s position now ‘untenable’
Fresh reports have emerged of boards using endowment funds to support their core budgets
Health Secretary Shona Robison has been told her position is “untenable” following fresh reports of cash-strapped health boards using endowment funds to support their core budgets.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said there must be an immediate national probe into the practice and insisted Ms Robison “now cannot be trusted to manage this investigation herself”.
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) confirmed it is “engaging” with ministers following reports that more health boards may have plundered their own charity cash pot.
The watchdog is already carrying out an inquiry into NHS Tayside’s endowment fund and said it would work with the Scottish Government “to ensure governance arrangements are appropriate across endowment funds in Scotland”.
Mr Sarwar said: “To have this practice going on in Shona Robison’s backyard at NHS Tayside is bad enough – but to have it going on elsewhere is simply a disgrace.”
He added: “She has not just failed hard-working NHS staff and patients, but she has lost control of Scotland’s health boards too.”
Bosses at NHS Highland admitted they have used endowment cash on more than one occasion, including one instance where around £1 million was used to bankroll the redevelopment of a ward at Raigmore.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran confirmed it transferred around £184,000 from its endowment fund in 2017, although it had previously moved £800,000 in the opposite direction to research hospital infections.
Both boards, who have experienced their own cash crises in recent years, claimed all funds transferred out of their respective endowment funds had been properly spent.
However, sources from various NHS regions have reportedly revealed their discomfort over how charity cash has been used, including on hotels for staff attending conferences or training courses.
North East MSP Liam Kerr called for the investigation into endowment fund spending to be widened beyond NHS Tayside.
“Shona Robison has a serious job to do to get NHS Tayside back on track and to rebuild public trust – both in the local health board and in her ability to fulfil her role as health secretary,” he said.
It has also emerged NHS Tayside gave more than £1,000 in charity cash to a community biking project called Mike’s Bikes, run by a former drug addict.
The organiser subsequently vanished with no record of how the money was spent.
Ms Robison has instructed NHS Scotland’s chief executive Paul Gray to write to all health boards to seek assurances over how endowment monies were spent.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government stressed that endowment fund trustees were expected to comply fully with a legal framework regulated by the OSCR.
She added: “I welcome that the OSCR have begun their investigation into the use of these funds in NHS Tayside in early 2014, and that the new leadership team of NHS Tayside have made clear their intention to take any actions that are deemed necessary as a result of this.”