Scottish Conservative MSPs Murdo Fraser and Liz Smith have expressed concerns after it was revealed that NHS Tayside plan to make nearly £100 million of cuts.
The politicians, who both represent the Mid Scotland and Fife region, were reacting to the shocking figures – contained in the NHS Tayside Three-year Finance Plan - which show the projected financial budget savings amount to a total £96.9 million over three years. Documents contained in the finance plan reveal that budget cuts of £35.7 million will be required during the 2019/20 financial year; £32.1 million in 2020/21 and £29.1 million in 2021/22.
NHS Tayside aim to cut costs through the Transforming Tayside programme, which addresses bed blocking and unnecessary hospital admissions, and which is aimed at making better use of community care and technology.
Commenting, Murdo Fraser said: “These figures are shocking and very concerning. To plan to make nearly £100 million of budget cuts over three years will definitely impact on a host of services provided by NHS Tayside.
“We had a situation where almost 300 women were found to have been prescribed the wrong dose of chemotherapy by NHS Tayside following a review carried out by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). As a result, NHS Tayside stated they would develop an action plan to implement the recommendations made by HIS.
“And the situation just gets worse for NHS Tayside with its troubled board now facing budget cuts of nearly £100 million over three years. Without doubt, these are very worrying times for NHS Tayside.”
Liz Smith added: “These are very significant cuts at a time when NHS Tayside has obviously been under so many other pressures and not always capturing very good headlines in the media. I find these projected cuts of £100 million very concerning indeed.”