Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North and north-east health board ‘shortchanged’ out of tens of millions, critics claim

Post Thumbnail

Health boards in the north and north-east have been shortchanged out of tens of millions of pounds, opposition politicians have claimed.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay increased the overall spend for Scotland’s health service by 5.3%, according to the Scottish Parliament’s Information Service (Spice).

But the same resource also showed that the country’s 14 regional boards, which have enjoyed an equivalent increase in previous years, have had just a 3.8% boost collectively.

Had the same percentage been applied, an additional £142 million would have been shared out among the boards.

Among the regions in the north, Grampian missed out on the largest sum, having been given a 4.1% increase in its funding, from £920.6 million to £957.9 million.

If the board been given the extra 1.2% increase, it would have received an additional £11.5 million.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman

NHS Highland’s budget was raised by 3.8% from £604.3 million to £627.5 million, meaning it missed out on an extra £8.8 million.

And in the islands, the Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles health boards missed out on a total of £2.5 million.

Last year the total increase given to regional boards was 2.9%, in line with the increase in the total health budget at 2.8%.

Alexander Burnett, Aberdeenshire West MSP, said it was “high time” the region was given a fairer deal.

He said: “The SNP has been short-changing NHS Grampian for many years now.

“These figures suggest the north-east health board will miss out on more than £11 million this year.

“That is unacceptable, particularly at a time when many people are waiting months on end for operations.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


“It is high time the north-east got a fairer deal from this failing SNP government.”

The Scottish Government argued it has provided an additional £160 million to local authorities to be used in social care and mental health treatment as well as the board funds.

A spokesman for Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “We will take absolutely no lectures from the Tories when it comes to health funding.

“They are the ones who have cut cash for frontline services in Scotland by 6.5% since 2010.

“Despite that, the SNP has increased health funding by 13.3% over the same period.”