Sturgeon gives full backing to NHS recovery plan despite ‘unsustainable’ claim

Watchdog Audit Scotland released a report on Thursday which said the NHS in Scotland was ‘not financially sustainable’.

The First Minister was pushed on the report from Audit Scotland during First Minister’s Questions (Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA) (PA Wire)

Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government will not re-visit a recovery plan for Scotland’s NHS despite a report claiming the service was “not financially sustainable”.

Audit Scotland warned of an “ever-increasing backlog of patients waiting to be seen” and that rising spending on the health service was “unsustainable”.

The spending watchdog said that the Scottish Government has ambitious plans to redesign NHS services but stressed they “will be challenging and take a long time to realise”.

Its report said the Government “struggles to recruit enough people with the right skills” into the health service and increasing staffing in the NHS must be a priority.

However, the First Minister said she remained confident in the plan, when questioned on Thursday.

“Yes, I do,” she said when asked if she still had confidence in the plan, which was released last year.

“But the Government will continue to work hard to ensure that the recovery plan continues to develop and evolve and be fit for the purpose of getting the NHS through the remainder of Covid and on to a path, not just of recovery, but of sustainability for the future.”

Ms Sturgeon described the report as “challenging, but it is also fair and balanced”, adding: “It recognises that the task that all governments face to recover their health services from Covid is a difficult one and there are no easy answers.”

The First Minister went on to say the report recognises work done by the Scottish Government to ensure the health service is sustainable.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Tory leader, Douglas Ross, was critical of Ms Sturgeon’s position.

“Yes I do – three simple words from the First Minister confirming that everything she has put forward in her NHS recovery plan has her backing. It’s what she believes is the way of getting our health service out of the struggles of the pandemic,” he said.

“Yet it’s a very different view from Audit Scotland who have said this morning, quite a damning verdict on the Government’s plan to rebuild Scotland’s NHS.”

The Scottish Tory leader urged the First Minister to re-visit the NHS plan (Jeff J Mitchell/PA) (PA Wire)

Mr Ross quoted sections of the report which said: “There is not enough detail in the plan to determine whether ambitions can be achieved in thetimescales set out.”

When urged to re-draft the plan, the First Minister said she would not, adding: “I do, however, agree that, as the Government, we must ensure the delivery of that recovery plan and we must ensure that recovery plan is flexible and adaptable to make sure that it is fit for the very significant challenge that Scotland faces and, indeed, countries across the world face, in recovering their health services from the pandemic.”

Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, also pressed the First Minister on the report, which he said painted a “devastating picture”.

The First Minister wants to pretend these problems have all been created by Covid.

“But that is not true. Scotland’s NHS was in crisis before Covid hit and that’s why we are struggling to recover.”

He continued: “This Government has been solely responsible for Scotland’s NHS for 15 years.

“The result? Staff burnt out and wanting to leave and patients failed and languishing on waiting lists.”

Ms Sturgeon responded: “I don’t pretend to all of the challenges facing the NHS and other health services are all down to Covid.

“The health service has been facing demographic pressures.

“It has faced the pressure of a decade of Tory austerity, started actually under the last Labour Government, in case we forget that point.”

Assessing the NHS’s finances, Audit Scotland found that an additional £2.9 billion of funding was allocated in 2020-21 across health and social care, including £1.7 billion for health boards.

In 2020-21, the health budget was £18 billion – accounting for 35% of the total Scottish budget.

Of this, the NHS funding allocation was £16.3 billion, an increase of 19% in cash terms on the £13.7 billion the previous year.

Suggesting there is significant uncertainty about coronavirus-related funding and spending, the report added: “The NHS was not financially sustainable before the Covid-19 pandemic, with boards relying on additional financial support from Government or non-recurring savings to break even.

“The scale of the financial challenge has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

“The cost of delivering services has risen and additional spending commitments made by the Scottish Government add to NHS boards’ financial pressures.”