Scots NHS needs to improve financial skills

8 Dec 05
Scotland's health service is achieving better clinical results and cutting most waiting times but needs to improve its financial and workforce management, a spending watchdog has found.

09 December 2005

Scotland's health service is achieving better clinical results and cutting most waiting times but needs to improve its financial and workforce management, a spending watchdog has found.

Audit Scotland said this week in a broad-ranging report that the service had improved the availability of treatment and was successfully tackling prioritised conditions such as cancer, stroke and heart disease.

However, the watchdog found that in other areas performance was mixed, including some weaknesses in financial management. The Scottish Executive Health Department and four NHS boards failed to stay within their budgets in the past year.

Auditor general Bob Black said: 'Evidence is coming through that improvements in health services are resulting in better clinical outcomes and increased life expectancy.

'But the NHS in Scotland continues to face significant cost pressures, even with the extra funding that is going into the service.

'Further improvements are needed in financial management, workforce planning and performance management.'

According to the report, An overview of the performance of the NHS in Scotland 2004-05, the service is on track to meet targets for cutting inpatient, day case and outpatient waiting times for people with time-scale guarantees. Access to heart disease care has improved. However, the report forecast that the NHS in Scotland would probably miss the waiting time target for cancer treatments.

According to Audit Scotland, the NHS faces significant cost pressures and financial challenges as it deals with structural reforms and three new pay agreements for health professionals.

The watchdog said Scotland was spending more each year on the health service, with the total NHS bill of £8bn in 2004-05 set to rise to about £10.3bn by 2007/08.

Spending on health care was said to be 'relatively high' compared with the rest of the UK and a sample of other European countries.

Though the report noted that, a month before the end of 2004-05, the health department was forecasting that the NHS would finish the year with surplus money, the department actually overspent by £32m on its £8bn budget as a result of budget failures.

The combined overspending of four boards – Argyll & Bute, Grampian, Lanarkshire and Western Isles – rose by almost 50% to £91.1m.

The remaining 11 boards and other special health boards met their financial targets in 2004/05. Health boards are predicting funding gaps of about £183m in 2005/06, with several expecting to overspend, the report warned.

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