Call for crisis-hit NHS Lothian to be given fair funding

The new Sick Kids hospital was due to open in July but had to be delayed because of shortcomings with the ventilation

CRISIS-HIT NHS Lothian needs a fair share of funding to help get it back on track, MSPs have been told.

Underfunding due to the current formula was one of the issues cited by the board’s former chairman Brian Houston when he announced his resignation last week.

Figures released a few months ago showed NHS Lothian had been underfunded by more than £365 million over the past 11 years.

The health board was placed in "special measures" after the opening of the new Sick Kids hospital, due in July, had to be postponed at the last minute when checks revealed the ventilation in critical care did not meet national standards.

In a debate in the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Lothian MSP and Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said latest figures suggested the board’s budget share would stay roughly the same over the next three years despite the region having the fastest growing population in Scotland.

He said: “As Health Secretaries have come and gone from Nicola Sturgeon, Alex Neil, Shona Robison, and now Jeane Freeman, they have been content to stand by and allow NHS Lothian to remain the lowest funded NHS board per head in Scotland, receiving less money per person to deliver health care services, than patients in other parts of Scotland - despite the region’s fast growing and ageing population.

“Perhaps Jeane Freeman can help prevent the resignation of the next chairman by ensuring genuine fairness in funding for Lothian - she would have our support in doing so.”

In his resignation letter, Mr Houston said board chiefs had been making representations on the formula for at least the past six years.