NHS in Scotland 2016

Responding to Audit Scotland’s annual report on Scotland’s NHS, Health Secretary Shona Robison said:

“Under this government there have been significant improvements in the performance of the NHS, the safety of patients, overall life expectancy and survival rates for conditions such as heart disease supported by a real terms increase in spending on our NHS.

“Scotland’s core A&E departments have been the best performing in the UK for the last 18 months, and 90% of all hospital patients rate their care and treatment as good or excellent.

“In addition, as Audit Scotland note, overall staff levels are at their highest rate ever.

“And as this report confirms, the health budget stands at its highest ever level, with close to £13 billion being spent in 2016/17. We have also committed to increase the NHS revenue budget by £500 million above inflation over the course of this parliament – which means that it will rise by almost £2 billion in total.

“However preparing the NHS for the challenges of the future is not just about additional funding, but also new ways of delivering services.

“That is why we have invested a quarter of a billion pounds in social care this year as part of our integration policy, and recently committed to an extra £500 million to shift the balance towards primary care services before the end of this Parliament.

“Our national clinical strategy sets out a new approach to services and the delivery of five new elective centres will help us to speed up treatment and meet the increasing demand that comes as a result of a growing elderly population.

“Also, in order to ensure we have an NHS workforce fit for the future, we will develop a new national workforce plan

“These are changes that will help to equip our health service to continue to deliver excellent and safe care for the people of Scotland in the years ahead.”