NHS board must make £36m saving

Labour said previously "untouchable" departments might face cuts

NHS Highland has confirmed it will have to make efficiency savings of £36m, after Labour claimed its deficit had doubled under the SNP government.

However, NHS Highland chairman Gary Coutts said it was only a small part of its budget and the board was set to spend £1bn on improving services.

Labour reported the £36m figure after analysing internal NHS documents.

The Scottish Government said while Highland, like other boards, must make savings its funding had increased.

Mr Coutts told BBC Scotland the £36m was a "very, very small bit" of Highland's budget when spending of £1bn during the same period was taken into consideration.

He said: "It will not affect the outcomes for patients.

"Patients might see the way that they get services is different, but waiting times are going to come down, cancer waits are going to come down, the length of time you wait for a consultant is going to come down.

"These are all improvements we are making and these are all guarantees we are making to people."

If people are turning up and being told they can't get their hip replacement, but can get free car parking I think folk might another view of that Rhoda Grant Labour MSP

Labour said it had seen internal documents which suggested Highland had to make savings of £36m, and that previously "untouchable" departments might face cuts - a prospect it described as "scary".

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, said she hoped the health authority would be able to find savings.

She added: "I very much hope we can mitigate as far as possible.

"If people are turning up and being told they can't get their hip replacement, but can get free car parking I think folk might have another view of that.

However, the Scottish Government said the health authority's baseline allocation for 2008-09 represented an increase of 3.15%.

But it said, like other NHS boards, Highland would have to make 2% efficiency savings over the next three years.

'Not unrealistic'

A spokesman said: "Despite an extremely tight settlement from Westminster at the last spending review, we have delivered record investment to NHS Scotland, which will exceed £11bn by 2010-11.

"NHS Highland's baseline allocation for 2008-09 represented an increase of 3.15%."

He said that in addition to the initial general allocation, boards would have access to additional funding that would be allocated throughout the year.

The spokesman said: "For example, from 2008-09 to 2010-11, an additional £90m will be allocated each year to NHS boards to ensure that by the end of 2011 nobody will wait longer than 18 weeks from GP referral to treatment for routine conditions.

"NHS Highland, along with all other NHS Boards, is required to find 2% efficiency savings over the next three years.

"These savings are necessary to continuously improve NHS services and are retained locally by the board to allow them to reinvest in front-line services at their discretion.

"NHS Highland's chief executive, Roger Gibbins, has already stated that the savings are not unrealistic and has reassured staff that no jobs are at risk."

'Inflationary pressures'

Mary Scanlon, Scottish Conservatives health spokeswoman and MSP for Highlands and Islands, said Highland was being asked to do more with less money.

She said: "With inflationary pressures, 2% efficiency savings and the government's new funding formula - which will reduce NHS Highlands funding by £22m over the next few years - NHS Highland have been forced to consider turning away emergency admissions, freezing recruitment, offering redundancies, and reducing out of hours services."

Highland was expanded to provide services within the boundaries of the Argyll and Bute Council area following the dissolution of Argyll and Clyde Health Board in 2006.

The board, which served 420,000 people, was £80m in the red.