SNP cannot forget hospitals as it makes big change to healthcare spending
Scotland’s hospitals will need to make ‘big increases in efficiency and productivity’ if their services are not going to get worse
Almost a month after the Scottish Budget statement was delivered to parliament, the Institute for Fiscal Studies today publishes a report that crunches the numbers, cuts through the political spin and attempts to work out what it all really means.
One change it highlights is the shift in emphasis in health and social care spending. Overall, the day-to-day budget will rise by an average of 2.4 per cent a year over the next three years.
However, Scotland’s hard-pressed hospitals and ambulance service will see their funds increase by just 0.4 per cent a year, while spending on primary care services, such as GPs, and social care will go up by nearly 12 per cent a year.
This reflects the approach taken by Labour south of the Border, with its focus on disease prevention and catching conditions early, which makes treatment more effective and considerably cheaper.
READ MORE: Three billion reasons why money alone won't fix Scotland's NHS – especially when spent by SNP
Good reasons for new approach
Significant increases in social care could also finally help tackle the long-standing problem of delayed discharge, in which hospital beds are occupied by people well enough to go home but unable to do so because of the lack of a care package.
This causes backlogs which affect not only hospital wards, but Accident and Emergency, and the availability of ambulances, which are sometimes forced to queue outside hospitals because of the lack of beds.
So there are good reasons behind the SNP’s new approach. However, the IFS report says the small increase in funding for hospitals and ambulances will “require big increases in efficiency and productivity” if services are not going to deteriorate.
The Scottish Government aims to make their new approach work by requiring NHS boards to make “highly ambitious” efficiency savings of 3 per cent a year, which would be “significantly in excess of what has historically been achieved”, the report adds.
SNP ministers must remember that ambulances and hospitals operate at the sharp end of the NHS. If your life is in danger, being taken by ambulance to a hospital is almost always your best chance of surviving.
After years of mismanagement and decline, the NHS needed a bold new plan. For all our sakes, we hope this is it.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.