Now NHS faces cuts of £400m
Pressure piles on Robison
HEALTH boards across Scotland are being forced to make ‘unprecedented’ savings of £400 million in a move that experts fear will damage patient care.
As the new financial year begins, NHS boards are already under pressure to impose far-reaching cuts to balance the books, analysis by The Scottish Mail on Sunday shows.
While managers consider how to slash budgets, campaigners have warned patients to expect cancelled operations and delays in treatment.
With boards already struggling to cut spending, one whistleblower said she feared patients would die because overworked staff could not monitor them properly.
The disclosure piles further pressure on Health Secretary Shona Robison following a string of failures including claims that NHS Tayside plundered charity donations to pay for IT systems.
The present situation contrasts starkly with the position a decade ago, when watchdog body Audit Scotland said NHS Scotland was in a ‘good’ financial state, with an overall revenue underspend by health boards of £50 million.
Yesterday, health policy analyst and former NHS trust chairman Roy Lilley said: ‘People are making heroic projections that they can somehow cut this amount from their bottom lines.
‘They may be able to buy their toilet rolls cheaper but basically services in Scotland are just the same as in England and they are underfunded. You simply can’t save that level. What will happen is problems with waiting times and delayed care.’
Last night, Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘The SNP Government really needs to get on top of NHS board funding. Cash for health has increased from the UK, and there’s no excuse for the SNP not to pass that on. Instead, we have health boards right across Scotland struggling to cope.’
The Scottish Government defended its handling of the NHS. A spokesman said: ‘We are delivering record health spending in 2018-19, increasing health funding by £400 million, with frontline NHS boards receiving an extra 3.7 per cent.’