A damning report released by Audit Scotland today reveals the NHS is “at breaking point”.
Health boards across the country are struggling to break even and NHS Tayside has been identified as being in a particularly precarious position after becoming increasingly reliant on extra Scottish Government funding.
The service received £2.85 million in 2013-14 to defer property sales and £2.25 million for the same reason the previous year.
According to the Audit Scotland report, the board must sell these assets including surplus land at Ashludie, Sunnyside and Murray Royal hospitals to protect its budget next year.
The document stated: “If these sales do not take place or the proceeds are less than expected, the board might need brokerage again, which could reduce the board’s budget in future years.”
NHS Tayside director of finance Ian McDonald defended its position and gave assurances that work is ongoing to secure the future of the service.
He said: “NHS Tayside has achieved its revenue and capital budgets for the 13th successive year and exceeded the 3% efficient Government savings target.
“While demand on clinical services continues to increase, we are confident that efficiencies will be identified through a range of measures through our programme of redesign of services and innovation, led by our frontline staff called Steps to Better Healthcare.
“This will help NHS Tayside deliver an overall balanced position.”
Meanwhile, NHS Fife is said to be facing a staffing crisis.
Difficulties in filling vacancies for radiologists and locums have had an impact on waiting times for diagnostic tests.
As a result, workers have raised concerns about staffing levels more than 160 times.
NHS Fife director of acute services Heather Knox said: “In common with other district general hospitals across Scotland, NHS Fife is experiencing challenges in recruiting to consultant posts.
“However, we have taken proactive steps to reduce these vacancies, including a comprehensive recruitment campaign targeting our vacancies in the fields of anaesthetics, gastro-enterology, paediatrics, care of the elderly, and radiology.
“This campaign has helped us to reduce the number of vacancies and we expect to continue moving in the right direction with a view to further appointments over the coming months.
“Furthermore, in February 2015 we will be embarking on a further recruitment drive to attract trainee consultants who have become fully qualified.”
For our full report, see Thursday’s Courier or try our digital edition.