Local MSP Craig Hoy has called for an urgent review of the NHS funding formula following NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s escalation to Stage Three of the NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework.
The escalation means the Scottish Government will now have increased oversight of the health board, which faces a projected overspend of £28 million and must make significant savings to reduce the shortfall.
Mr Hoy argued that the board needs fairer funding to focus on providing the highest standard of care, rather than being forced into cuts. The Scottish Government’s Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) formula determines how health funding is distributed across Scotland.
In the Holyrood chamber Mr Hoy asked: “The escalation of the health board to stage three is a genuine concern for people across Dumfries and Galloway, many of whom are already struggling to access health care. The picture across Scotland is one where health boards are under extreme pressure to make significant cost savings. Rather than focusing on the day-to-day job of focusing on delivering the highest standards of health care. Through its funding formula, the SNP government has effectively left rural health boards high and dry and fending for themselves, and they are systematically failing rural Scotland due to this skewed funding formula. So will the Minister now commit to revising the NRAC funding formula to make sure the rural funding meets rural health needs, and the health boards aren't left an impossible situation, such as Dumfries and Galloway.”
Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for health and social care, responded by claiming that the NHS is receiving record levels of funding despite the funding crisis and widespread cuts within health boards.
Speaking after the question Craig said: “I am disappointed but not surprised that the SNP refuse to review the NRAC formula. Rural health boards have been failed for years by this system, and I will continue to press the Government for change and a better deal for Dumfriesshire.
“I will work with NHS Dumfries and Galloway and other key stakeholders to ensure they focus their resources on delivering frontline patient care for patients across the region.”
