Lothian MSP Gordon Lindhurst has accused the SNP government of short-changing NHS Lothian to the tune of £16 million.
The Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP has highlighted new figures showing that the SNP Government have failed to pass down increases in the health budget to local NHS boards.
While there has been a 5.3% increase in the overall health budget, NHS Lothian’s budget is only set to get an increase of 4.1%, meaning their overall budget will be £1.441 billion.
If the 5.3% increase had been applied to NHS Lothian, their budget would be £1.457 billion.
Mr Lindhurst says it is further evidence of the SNP Government failing to provide proper resources to health boards to ensure they can deliver the highest quality of care to patients.
Gordon Lindhurst MSP said: “Our health board and staff across NHS Lothian work hard to deliver care across our region on a daily basis.
“That is why they need to be fully supported and resourced, yet now we see the SNP government are short-changing the board by £16m.
“Those millions could have been used to ease the burden on our frontline staff, help to hire more GP’s and support medical advances in our hospitals.
“Instead, NHS Lothian are faced with delivering the same high level of care, under an increasing financial strain.
“The SNP Government have been in charge of our health service for almost 12 years, yet are still not properly resourcing our health boards.”
The figure of £1.441 billion is taken from the Scottish Budget 2019-20 under Health and Sport. The report can be found here.
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