Declining NHS

The NHS in Scotland is not financially sustainable and its performance has continued to decline, the public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland, said.

Health boards were "struggling to break even,... relying increasingly on Scottish government loans and one-off savings". and none had met all of the key national targets - with NHS Lothian not meeting any. The report said pressure is building in several areas - including the recruitment and retention of staff, rising drug costs, Brexit and a significant maintenance backlog.

The "declining performance against national standards indicates the stress NHS boards are under"

The Scottish government invested £13.1bn in NHS services last year, but Audit Scotland said when inflation was taken into account there was a 0.2% real terms drop in cash.

Auditor General Caroline Gardner said: "The performance of the NHS continues to decline, while demands on the service from Scotland's ageing population are growing."

Dr Lewis Morrison, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) in Scotland, said the "stark warning" from Audit Scotland "could not be any blunter". But he added this would "come as no surprise to frontline doctors who have faced the consequences of inadequate funding year after year."

RCN Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said the report "underlines what those in the nursing profession have been warning about for a number of years - an unsustainable pressure on staff to deliver more care. This leads to staff burnout and, in some cases, a choice between staying in the profession and their own health."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45969866