NHS Grampian overspends by £17m in first three months of financial year
The health board has had the highest overspends of any NHS body in Scotland
It owes £92.2m to the Scottish Government
NHS Grampian must make £23m in cuts to bring it within the acceptable level of deficit
It has outlined measures including ditching free nappies and cutting appointments as ways of saving money
NHS Grampian has overspent by £17m in the first three months of the financial year despite being forced into a cost-cutting recovery plan by a huge funding black hole.
The health board, which racked up the largest overspend of any board in Scotland, has already announced plans to ditch free nappies for newborns and cut the number of public holiday appointments in a bid to save cash.
NHS Grampian owes the Scottish Government £92.2m and needs to make £23m in savings to come within its overspend limit.
The health board was told to produce a plan to find the savings required by June 7.
In papers published ahead of a board meeting on Thursday, August 14, NHS Grampian reveals it has already overspent by £17.17m since April.
An assessment of the board's finances reveals £10m in savings have yet to be made in accordance with its recovery plan.
Officials say if these cuts are not delivered there is 'a risk' NHS Grampian won't be unable to fulfill the Scottish Government's demands.
'The scale of the financial challenge faced by the Board is significant', the papers state.
'It is recognised that we now need to review our approach to financial monitoring to support the Board's financial recovery.'
Previously, NHS Grampian warned it would struggle if costs increase, with 'no flexibility' to manage them.
The Scottish Government has increased oversight of NHS Grampian, raising it to stage four out of five of NHS Scotland's National Performance Framework.
The Government has already loaned the health board around £90m to help it break even in recent years.
NHS Grampian's overspend last year was around £65m, the largest in value terms of any health board in the country, and fifth in percentage terms.
Government officials previously said they were 'concerned' about its financial position.
The proposed savings include cutting some appointments and services on public holidays, changing the type of vascular stent used for some patients and the ending of providing disposable nappies to 'well babies' born at maternity units.
NHS Grampian said it couldn't rule out that some patients would be impacted by the savings.
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ITV News
11 hours ago
- ITV News
Welsh Rugby Union CEO Abi Tierney has been diagnosed with cancer
Welsh Rugby Union CEO Abi Tierney has been diagnosed with cancer. A statement from the WRU confirmed that Tierney will be stepping away from her duties at the business from August 22 to undergo treatment. In a statement, she said: 'This has not been an easy decision, but it is one I must make to focus fully on my health and recovery. 'I am grateful for the support I have already received from my family, friends, and colleagues, and I am confident in the team's ability to continue our work during my absence. 'I kindly ask for understanding and privacy during this time.' Tierney will continue to fulfil her role until the end of next week as the WRU prepares to launch its formal consultation over a complete restructuring of the professional game. Yesterday, Tierney's executive team took their proposals to the WRU Board regarding what the landscape of rugby in Wales should look like moving forward. Next week, the proposals are due to be made public, with key stakeholders - namely clubs, players, supporters groups and sponsors - then having an opportunity to voice their opinions. Tierney will stay on to see those proposals go public before stepping away. WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood added: 'I, together with the whole of the Board and everyone involved with Welsh rugby wish Abi well over this period and the WRU is committed to supporting her during this time. 'In my role as Chair, I will continue to have overall responsibility for the WRU and in order to provide cover and give Abi the space she needs, will be more involved in the immediate future. 'Abi and the Board have recruited a strong executive team which will continue to lead the WRU on a day-to-day basis, supported by Alison Thorne. 'The most important topic on our agenda right now is the consultation on the future of elite rugby in Wales. This will be led by our Director of Rugby and Elite Performance, Dave Reddin, as a member of the executive and I will take overall responsibility for its successful delivery, working closely with Board members including Malcolm Wall as Chair of the Professional Rugby Board, Amanda Bennett who leads at Board level on our Women's game and Andrew Williams.'
The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
Mapped: Where in the UK are people most at risk from potentially deadly heatwave?
The areas where people are most in danger from deadly heatwaves have been revealed amid the UK 's fourth heatwave of the summer. The new analysis also shows thousands of young children, hospital patients and elderly people are at risk as temperatures climb once again, with health alerts in force around the UK. The findings, which have been mapped, identified 4,715 high heat neighbourhoods across England. More than 10,000 nurseries, almost 10,000 care homes and more than 1,000 hospitals were revealed to be located within the at-risk zones. Friends of the Earth, which undertook the research, is urging the UK government to take urgent action to protect those most under threat. The government said it was taking robust action to adapt to a changing climate, alongside becoming a 'clearn energy superpower'. A new survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the charity also showed public support for stronger measures to protect people from heatwaves and other extreme weather events, with 81 per cent thinking the government should develop a plan to protect those most at risk from extreme weather. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned of possible deadly effects as it issued heat health warnings for all of England on Monday. Amber warnings are in place for the East Midlands, West Midlands, east of England, London and the South East until Wednesday, with yellow warnings in place for the remainder of the country. It comes after the Centre for Ageing Better warned extreme heat could lead to more than 5,000 deaths this summer in what would be one of the deadliest heatwave years on record. The charity's analysis showed 2025 has seen more extreme temperatures and more heat health alerts than at the same time in 2022 – a year in which a high number of excess deaths from heat were recorded. The hot weather was a factor in more than 4,500 heat-related deaths in 2022, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics. Using 2022 heatwave data, Friends of the Earth researchers mapped out the third of the country that experienced the hottest temperatures, and which are highly likely to be exposed to future heatwaves. They found the average maximum daytime air temperature in neighbourhoods in this third of the country was 38C over a 72-hour period, which is 10C higher than the heatwave threshold used by the Met Office, meaning these places were dangerously hot, and are referred to as high heat neighbourhoods. The map also shows which of these neighbourhoods have enhanced risks of health impacts due to a combination of physical characteristics, such as little green space or lots of flats, enhanced physical risk, like an elderly population or poor health, and low ability to respond, such as low income. These are the neighbourhoods the environmental justice campaigners say need prioritising for adaptation measures. They also warned that extreme heat poses a threat to everyone but some – such as older people, young children, people with health issues and hospital patients – are particularly at risk. They discovered that the high heat neighbourhoods discovered contained 9,589 care homes, 1,012 hospitals, and 10,064 nurseries. Friends of the Earth campaigner Denis Fernando said: 'Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more extreme as climate change gathers pace. "The UK has been hit by thousands of heat-related deaths over recent years, and this could rise to over 10,000 a year by 2050, according to government advisors. 'Extreme heat affects us all – but some communities and people are affected harder than others, including older people, young children, people with health issues and hospital patients. 'The government must urgently overhaul its weak climate adaptation plans to protect communities, especially those most at risk, from increasingly severe weather events such as heatwaves, floods and storms – as well as doing more to cut the emissions that are fuelling the crisis.' The government's climate adaptation plan – which is known as the National Adaptation Programme (NAP) and aims to prepare the country for the impacts of climate change – was criticised by its official advisor in April. The Climate Change Committee warned: 'The UK is not appropriately prepared for this. Notably, there has been no change in addressing this risk with the change in government.' In July, Friends of the Earth and two people whose lives have been severely impacted by the climate crisis filed an official complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the government's climate adaptation strategy, which the group deems 'inadequate'. Among the policies the campaigners are calling for are upgrades to buildings poorly equipped for high temperatures, more features and spaces that cool cities, and heat training for staff to help protest vulnerable people. One of the co-claimants in the ECHR case is disability rights activist Doug Paulley, a care home resident in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, who has health conditions that are exacerbated by searing summer temperatures. Mr Paulley, said: 'Time and again, disabled people are treated as an expendable afterthought in emergencies - and climate change is one of the biggest. The government's lack of effective consideration for us in its climate action plan is completely unacceptable. 'Friends of the Earth's research reveals just how many care homes are in heatwave danger zones. The government must do more to ensure residents like me are properly protected from the threat they face.' A government spokesperson said: 'The National Adaptation Programme includes steps to make local communities become more resilient to overheating, a Local Advisory Climate Service to give authorities support and we're putting £30 billion into improving hospital buildings. 'We urge people to take extra care in the hot weather with building regulations in place to reduce the risk of new homes overheating and housing tenants can speak to their council if excess heat means that their property is in a dangerous condition.' They added that the government has launched a new Flood Resilience Taskforce and committed £2.65 billion for new flood schemes.
Scotsman
15 hours ago
- Scotsman
Should Scotland's schools ban pupils from leaving school at lunchtime and buying junk food?
Brian Whittle has called for the Scottish Government to take action on children's fitness | PA Brian Whittle MSP has raised some innovative ideas for boosting pupil health in Scotland's schools Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Pupils should be banned from leaving school premises at break time in order to boost public health, a Scottish Conservative MSP has said. Dramatic interventions will have a 'significant' financial cost to the public purse but are vital in improving life chances for Scots, according to Brian Whittle. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A national audit of community sports facilities, mass volunteer programmes for retirees, and mandatory numbers of primary school PE teachers are also solutions proposed to deal with Scotland's poor health record. Mr Whittle, a former Olympic athlete, has produced a public policy paper with the think tank Enlighten, which aims to improve mental and physical health. 'It's easy to measure the cost of spending on prevention but it's often difficult to quantify how much isn't spent elsewhere as a consequence,' Mr Whittle said. He described the proposals as a 'first step' on a long road to changing Scotland's relationship with diet and physical activity. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Whittle added: 'The price of travel will be significant but those costs pale into insignificance when compared to the costs already being faced by our NHS, social security system and other public services, all of which bear the burden of our poor public health.' Rather than trying to endlessly increase the supply of NHS care, the solution must come from reducing the demand for the NHS.' In order to do this, the paper, A New Prescription: Putting prevention at the heart of public health maps out a series of proposals. Brian Whittle, Derek Redmond, Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett and Daley Thompson in 1999 | Getty Images He suggests the need for a national audit of community sports facilities and a new model for funding sport, saying the current government model is not 'credible or constructive'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Since 2011, the number of teachers whose principal subject is PE has fallen by 44 per cent, from 189 to 104. In schools, Mr Whittle says a mandatory minimum of specialist primary school PE teachers per head should be set. The public sector should be incentivised to procure locally sourced nutritious food and to then cook it on site, following a model used in Ayshire. He also advises that breakfast clubs are expanded for primary aged pupils, saying morning clubs present a 'major opportunity' to grow young people's horizons. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Whittle suggests making free breakfast available alongside activities such as sports, art, drama, or coding, 'giving pupils an outlet and encouraging them to be active and socialise'. 'This model has the additional benefit of removing any stigma around pupils accessing free meals as the breakfast club becomes about the activity first and the food second,' he said. 'A balanced breakfast has also been shown to improve focus and boost academic performance within the classroom. 'Additionally, there are wider physiological benefits through moderated metabolism and regulation of appetite for school-aged children, both of which impact mood and behaviour.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Whittle's intervention comes weeks after it was revealed that healthy life expectancy for people in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a decade. Figures from the National Records of Scotland show women can expect 60 years of good health while men can expect just 59.6 years. Data published by the country's national archive said the drop in the average predicted years of good health may be driven by worsening health in younger people. Longevity has been falling in Scotland over the past decade and is now lower than in England by around 18 months. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Enlighten's Director Chris Deerin referred to Scotland's health record as 'notoriously poor, with data regularly placing us at or near the bottom of the charts across the west'. He added: 'For many years, politicians have talked about the need for a focus on prevention of ill-health, allowing people to live healthier lives for longer and reducing the strain on the NHS. 'Despite the talk, we haven't made anything like the progress required. 'The ideas contained in this paper suggest innovative ways in which Scotland's health record might be improved, with positive consequences for us all.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A Scottish Government spokeswoman said ensuring children and young people are physically active is a "key priority". She said: 'Active Schools delivery receives £13 million annual funding while all pupils receive around two hours of PE a week.'
