News / Health board gets funding boost
NHS SHETLAND has welcomed a £311,000 funding boost announced by the Scottish Government on Monday – but its chief executive has warned the health board needs to continue finding savings.
The government announced the extra cash, equating to around 0.5 per cent of NHS Shetland’s overall £50 million budget, as part of a Scotland-wide additional funding package of £65 million 2015/16.
It said the money was designed “specifically to address pressures such as the rising cost of new drugs” and brings the “total uplift” for NHS Shetland in the next financial year to £1.1 million.
NHS Shetland boss Ralph Roberts welcomed the announcement, and said the board was due to agree an updated five-year financial plan at its meeting on 10 February.
“It is positive that both the UK and Scottish Governments have recognised the need to increase funding for the NHS as we respond to the pressures caused by demographic change and the introduction of new drugs and clinical techniques,” Roberts said.
“However NHS Shetland will also need to continue to deliver efficiencies over the next few years as we respond to these pressures and the unique challenges of providing high quality and sustainable health services for the local community in Shetland.”
Meanwhile, amid reports elsewhere in the UK about ambulance delays and cancelled operations due to stretched resources, Roberts feels the NHS in Shetland has coped “exceptionally well” with the winter so far.
While other health boards struggle to meet targets, the Gilbert Bain Hospital managed to see 97.5 per cent of accident and emergency patients within four hours.
Roberts sad very few patients’ operations were cancelled – and those that did not go ahead were not cancelled due to a lack of beds but “other unavoidable issues”.
“I believe the GBH has coped exceptionally well, so far, with winter demands although I know staff have been working extremely hard to ensure this is the case,” Roberts told Shetland News.
Announcing the cash boost, Scottish health secretary Shona Robison said: “Despite Scotland’s fiscal resource budget being slashed in real terms by 10 per cent by Westminster since 2010, we’ve increased the health resource budget by 4.6 per cent in real terms.
“Our NHS services face challenges as a result of the increase in patients, with more complex illnesses, and the rising costs of expensive new drugs.
“This additional investment of £1.1 million increases the resources available to NHS Shetland and will help alleviate these pressures, ensuring our NHS can continue to deliver effective and sustainable care to patients in the area.”
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