Minister for Cuts
New health secretary accused of putting savings before care
SCOTLAND’s new Health Secretary has a track record of putting savings before patient care, according to critics who warn that she must safeguard the NHS from cuts.
Last week Jeane Freeman, as part of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet reshuffle, was appointed to run the country’s health service.
But opponents have pointed out that, in her previous senior NHS role, the organisation she ran was officially criticised for putting services at risk by over-zealous cost-cutting.
Ms Freeman chaired the National Waiting Times Centre (NWTC) board – which runs the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire – for five years until 2016.
She was appointed to the role in January 2011 and only stood down in March 2016, shortly before being elected to Holyrood as a Nationalist MSP. But her record at the health board will worry those hoping for more cash to solve NHS challenges.
Over six years the NWTC achieved ‘efficiency savings’ of £19.8 million, according to Audit Scotland reports.
And in many cases, the amount cut was higher than the target figure.
The watchdog’s report for 2013-14 said the £3.6 million saved was at least £1 million more than required. Auditors warned this could harm the level of service provided to patients.
They wrote: ‘There is a risk that delivery of the board’s efficiency savings plans are at the detriment of services and/or ongoing financial health.’ Later, in assessing the impact of the cuts, they disclosed that two targets were set to be missed, including a 12-week waiting time for patients to be treated, from the date that the treatment is agreed.
Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, said: ‘The health service is crying out for investment but Health Secretary Jeane Freeman’s record seems to be about nothing but cuts. That is unacceptable and has an impact on patient care.’
The Golden Jubilee was bought by the Scottish Government in 2002 to ease pressure on the NHS.
It is home to regional and national heart and lung services, is a major centre for orthopaedics and, crucially, aims to reduce waiting times by taking on patients from elsewhere, when lists are full.
However, the Scottish Government has repeatedly failed to hit its own waiting times targets, a key factor in the departure of Ms Freeman’s predecessor Shona Robison last week.
The Scottish Government insisted yesterday that savings had not shortchanged services such as those at the Golden Jubilee. It said: ‘All money saved by these efficiency measures is reinvested in health boards.
‘Since 2006/07, the Golden Jubilee Health Board’s budget has increased by £17.4 million to £54 million.’
‘The NHS is crying out for investment’