Watchdog exposes critical failings at the heart of NHS
Auditor delivers health warning as key targets missed and vision found wanting
THE NHS is facing “unprecedented” cuts to frontline services and ministers have failed to outline a coherent vision for the health system, a damning report by the public finances watchdog has revealed.
A report by Audit Scotland has laid bare huge challenges facing the NHS that will be forced to shoulder almost £500 million of fresh cuts this year to balance the books – up 65 per cent.
For the first time, auditors have drilled down into the latest NHS budget revealing that the money available for running NHS Scotland services this year fell by 0.3 per cent in real terms.
Despite £492m of cuts on the horizon, a small number of locum consultants have been drafted in to understaffed hospitals costing Scotland’s largest health board more than £400,000 each to work less than a year.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), which is seeking savings of almost £70m to balance its books, said it was having to pay “relatively high rates” to cover vacancies that are extremely difficult to fill.
Auditor General for Scotland Caroline Gardner, the author of the report, said NHS spending was not “keeping pace with increasing demand, rising costs and the needs of a growing and ageing population”.
“This makes it increasingly difficult for boards to deliver services, meet targets and break even each year, so savings increasingly have to be made to balance the books,” she said.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said staffing levels and the health budget are at their highest levels. She said at £13 billion, health funding was at record levels and the watchdog had “repeatedly” argued integrating health and social care was vital for reforms.
According to auditors, between 2010-11 and 2014-15 the annual increase in the total health budget was less than one per cent in real terms.
Meanwhile, major expenses have risen more sharply, with staff costs increasing by 6.4 per cent and pension costs by 18.6 per cent in the last six years.
The bill for prescription drugs shot up by 10 per cent between 2012-13 and 2014-15 alone. The report also revealed: Staff turnover, sickness absence rates and vacancies have grown and waiting times targets have become more difficult to meet.
Health boards are taking increasingly desperate measures to stay in the black, with NHS Ayrshire and Arran accused of shifting one staffing expense into a new financial year – a move “contrary to proper accounting practice”, according to auditors.
Nearly one third of all NHS Scotland buildings need repairs and in some board areas 50 per cent of the maintenance backlog is classed as “high risk and significant”.
Outstanding maintenance required to bring buildings up to an adequate standard across NHS Scotland was £898m.
Too many patients are waiting too long for hospital appointments, operations and cancer treatment according to ministers’ own standards.
The Scottish Government’s plan for looking after the growing elderly population is to care for people better in the community – an aim outlined in its 2020 Vision and National Clinical Strategy
The Auditor General said funding to implement the shift in the balance of care from hospitals to the community over the next decade “has not changed course” despite multiple strategies for reform.
In words that echo The Herald’s own NHS: Time For Action campaign, the Audit Scotland report calls for the Scottish Government to model how much its plans will cost and provide more detail on the workforce required to deliver them.
Ms Gardner said added: “Before that shift can occur, there needs to be a clear and detailed plan for change, setting out what the future of the NHS looks like, what it will cost to deliver, and the workforce numbers and skills needed to make it a reality.”
Labour health spokesman Anas VICTORIOUS Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown has said winning the show before it departs to Channel 4 means “more to her than anything else in her life”.
The 31-year-old PE teacher beat rivals Jane Beedle and Andrew Smyth to the title – the last time it will be shown on the BBC following its controversial move to new ovens on the rival channel.
She said: “When they [the judges] said my name that means more to me than anyone will ever realise.
“I have low self-belief, even though my friends and family constantly build my confidence up. So it was a big moment in my life, probably the biggest so far. I can’t stop smiling.”
Viewers said farewell to judge Mary Berry and Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins as hosts, but Paul Hollywood is following the dough to Channel 4.