News / Tough times ahead for NHS
NHS Shetland has agreed a five-year financial plan for 2015/16 to 2019/20 requiring the health board to make recurring savings of £4.45 million over the next three years.
The increase of government funding of 3.1 per cent to £40.8 million in 2015/16 will not be enough to cover for the increase in the cost of healthcare.
Chief executive Ralph Roberts said the board faced some tough financial choices as it had a duty to break even at the end of the financial year.
Cost pressures in the health services include the price of new drug treatments, new health technologies, pay awards and rising demand on services as a result of the growing elderly population.
Roberts, said: “NHS Shetland has an excellent record of managing our budget and this is a direct result of the hard work and commitment of our staff and managers.
“However we recognise we face significant challenges over the next few years if we are going to continue this record.
“We obviously welcome the additional resources that the health service continues to receive and understand that the health service has been in a relatively good position because our budget has been protected from some of the difficult decisions required in the rest of the public sector.
“However, because of the growing demand on health services we have to continue to deliver efficiencies wherever this is possible and this will mean we need to make some difficult choices in the years ahead.”
On Monday, Scottish health secretary Shona Robison said: “The Scottish Government’s commitment to increasing NHS Shetland budget demonstrates our continuing investment in frontline health spending.
“This comes as Scotland’s total health spending reaches more than £12 billion for the first time ever.”
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