Fears patients will suffer from £220m of NHS cuts

HEALTH bosses are about to make ‘unprecedented’ cuts of more than £220 million, dealing a crippling blow to already struggling hospitals and GP surgeries.

The Scottish Mail on Sunday has seen papers warning that tens of millions of pounds must be cut in 2018/19.

One health board said it was struggling to fill ‘critical’ roles and was using expensive locums. Another said the cuts were ‘significantly greater’ than it had faced before.

In the Highlands alone, an eye-watering £60 million needs to be cut. One board has even called for ‘regional or national solutions’, hinting at the prospect of mergers.

Scotland’s biggest health board – Greater Glasgow and Clyde – has told bosses to slash 10 per cent from their spending plans in a bid to save £38.6 million in total.

Scotland’s NHS has already faced a winter of turmoil, with nurses describing ‘hellish’ A&E wards, office staff working as cleaners to keep wards open, operations cancelled, record levels of flu deaths, and Nicola Sturgeon forced to apologise to patients.

The Scottish Government insisted that it was properly funding the NHS, and that ‘the draft budget increases the health resource budget by more than £400 million, taking it to a record high of over £13.1 billion’. However, the BMA has warned that ‘it is not going to be enough to keep up with increasing demand’ – and said patients will suffer.

Of Scotland’s 14 regional health boards, nine gave figures for their 2018/19 black holes, totalling £220 million. Others said it was too early but all indicated they would be forced to make cuts.