Reports warn of financial challenges for NHS boards
Two Scottish health boards are facing ''prolonged and considerable'' financial challenges, public spending watchdogs have warned.
NHS Tayside needs to make savings of ÂŁ175 million over the next five years while the NHS 24 advice service has seen the bill for its delayed new IT system soar by almost 75%, according to new reports.
Auditor General Caroline Gardner said the difficulties faced by the two boards would ''continue to have an impact on the way they operate and deliver services''.
She spoke out after the reports were published, detailing the issues NHS Tayside and NHS 24 are facing - which prompted claims from Labour that Health Secretary Shona Robison is ''mismanaging our NHS''.
NHS Tayside has received loans cash totalling ÂŁ24.3 million from the Scottish Government over the last four years, according to a report by the Auditor General for Scotland
The potential budget deficit for 2016-17 stands at ÂŁ11.65 million but NHS chiefs have to make ''unprecedented'' savings of ÂŁ58.4 million this year.
Over the next five years, savings of ÂŁ175 million will need to be made, according to the report, while NHS Tayside will also have to repay ÂŁ20 million of loan cash - known as brokerage - to the Scottish Government.
The Auditor General said the health board ''does not have plans in place that fully address'' this year's budget shortfall and added: ''There is a significant risk that NHS Tayside will need brokerage again to break even.''
While NHS 24 has invested heavily in a new IT system over the past six years, delays in implementing this have ''led to additional costs and risks to NHS 24's ability to meet its financial targets in future years'', according to the Auditor General.
The advice service received government loans of ÂŁ20.756 million between 2012-13 and 2014-15, and has to date only repaid ÂŁ400,000 of this.
The Auditor General's report said previous failures to launch the new system successfully, combined with ''double running costs'' of keeping the existing system operational, ''meant that NHS 24 now estimates that total projected cost of the programme will be ÂŁ131.2 million, 73% above the ÂŁ75.8 million included in the original business case''.
Ms Gardner said: ''While action is under way to try and address these issues, there's no quick fix available and recovery will take time. It's important that the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government closely monitor progress to ensure circumstances do not worsen, to the detriment of staff and service users.''
Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar demanded Ms Robison ''address the huge cuts to come in Tayside''.
He said: ''The SNP health minister has spent all summer denying that our NHS faces cuts, denying that staff are under pressure and claiming our NHS has enough resources, only to have her claims blown out of the water by her own health board.''
He went on to state that ''something has clearly gone badly wrong with the NHS 24 IT system - it is years late and millions over budget''.
Mr Sarwar added: ''Shona Robison's in-tray is overflowing with problems with our health service - she is mismanaging our NHS.''
Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ''The struggles endured by NHS Tayside and NHS 24 both point to a similar problem - the fact the SNP has done a dreadful job running the health service. This report details tens of millions of pounds that have been poured down the drain. That's cash which could have been spent on staff, repairing crumbling hospitals or funding vital drugs. Auditors have been extremely critical of the financial waste here and the Scottish Government needs to provide not only an explanation of how this has happened, but practical solutions for the future.''