Robison urged to ‘get a grip’ of NHS spending

Debate: Marra says NHS Tayside continues to spend ‘hand over fist’ on agency staff

The Health Secretary was told to get a grip on “hand over fist” agency staff spending at NHS Tayside.

Shona Robison was confronted with figures during a Holyrood debate on the state of the NHS that showed Tayside had increased spending on agency nurses by 39% in the past year.

The Dundee East MSP responded saying: “We absolutely want to address that, and we are working with NHS Tayside to address it.

“There are regional variations – some boards find it harder to recruit permanent staff, but bearing down on agency costs is without doubt critical in this case. We have made it clear to the management team in NHS Tayside that we expect it to do that as a matter of priority, and we will help it to do that.”

Jenny Marra, the Labour MSP, said the health board has “continued to spend hand over fist” while in “dire financial difficulties”.

“Shona Robison needs to sort out this mess in NHS Tayside and make sure our health board gets on a better financial footing in the interests of patients across Tayside,” she said.

Liz Smith MSP, for the Scottish Conservatives said: “The SNP have had since 2007 to sort out problems with agency staffing costs but have failed to do so and many will treat today’s promises of improvement with caution.”

NHS Tayside has needed loans of £20 million to avoid going into the red.

The health board has the highest staff turnover of any mainland health board and spent £5m on agency nurses in 2015-16 – more than anywhere else in the country, last week’s Audit Scotland report found.

NHS Tayside said they have “already taken decisive actions to ensure our health services continue to be safe and sustainable and respond to the needs of our communities”.

Yesterday’s debate centred on the “damning” Audit Scotland report into the state of the Scottish NHS, which ended in SNP defeat.

It assessed the financial performance of the NHS and found it plagued by rising costs, staffing difficulties and ambitious savings targets.

Ms Robison said the Government was investing £2 billion over the next five years to improve services. She added: “There are more than 11,000 more staff working in our health service than was the case when we took office.”