Mid-Scotland and Fife MSPs, Murdo Fraser and Liz Smith, have insisted that questions still remain for the Health Minister following the release of an independent report into the use of endowment funding at NHS Tayside.
The report, produced by auditors Grant Thornton, criticised the transparency of accountancy practices at the health board in the run up to 2013/14.
A list of recommendations has been produced but the auditors were not tasked with looking into ‘who knew what when’ and the Scottish Government’s role in the crisis.
A separate report is currently being produced by Scotland’s charity regulator, OSCR, into the endowment funding crisis at Tayside.
Commenting, Murdo Fraser MSP said:
“Whilst this report does shed further light on the circumstances that led to board members approving the use of endowment funding for the eHealth project, questions still remain.
“The report does not look into the simple ‘who knew what when’ and I believe the Scottish Government’s role in this crisis requires further examination.
“Absolving the Scottish Government of any knowledge will not wash and people want real answers from the Health Minister.”
Commenting, Liz Smith MSP said:
“This report is a helpful first take on what happened at NHS Tayside but it does not make for happy reading for the health board.
“Clearly there were issues over transparency and accountability and it is important that the interim team work hard to reverse these historic organisational practices.
“However, there are still questions over the Scottish Government’s role and it is disappointing that this report did not have a wider focus to help shed light on these issues.”