NHS boards splurge £53m on private advisers as frontline services suffer

Daily Record

a day ago

Included in the spending was £200k for conflict resolution experts and £23k for media advisors.
Scottish NHS boards have spent a shocking £53million on private management consultants in the last five years the Sunday Mail can reveal.
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Labour has accused the SNP government of allowing the health service to 'haemorrage' money on external firms, while cash strapped frontline services struggle to cope.
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The spending includes more than £200,000 paid by NHS Highland for 'conflict management resolution' experts, and £23,000 by the State Hospital Board for 'media strategy advice'.
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Public Health Scotland, the national health improvement and protection body, spent £97,000 on change management and business service consultants from auditing firm KPMG.
It comes as soaring long waits at A&E departments are estimated to have contributed to more than 1,000 needless deaths.
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Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour deputy leader, said the SNP had to 'get a grip' on the spending.
She said: 'While outside expertise will always be needed, these figures show that at a time when our hospitals and surgeries are under pressure, health boards are still haemorrhaging cash.
'The SNP must get a grip on health boards' spending and ensure that where money does go to external consultants it can be clearly justified.'
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NHS Highland was at the centre of a bullying scandal after whistleblowers exposed a culture of fear at the health board in 2018.
Two years later bosses paid Conflict Management Plus, a firm based near Cambridge, £189,000 for help to deal with problematic workplace relationships. Another £15,000 was handed to the firm in 2023.
The State Hospital Board, which is responsible for running Scotland's only high-security psychiatric hospital at Carstairs - paid £23,000 to a firm for help in developing proactive media strategies over three years between 2020 and 2022.
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In 2023 Carstairs bosses also spent £720 on a 'courageous conversation workshop' from Scottish firm Class 1 Consultants.
The Scottish Ambulance Service spent £373,000 for a private consultant to plan rosters between 2019 and 2023.
Last year NHS Education Scotland paid a private firm £210,000 to complete a business case for the government's new health and social care app which is supposed to be launched by the end of the year.
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In total between 2019/20 and 2024/25 health boards have spent £53 million on private consultants. This also includes private consultants for infrastructure projects.
The details come amid concern about the state of Scotland's NHS.
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in December last year found that while the NHS in England is steadily improving since the pandemic, in Scotland things are getting worse.
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Their study found that compared to before Covid, the percentage of people waiting for tests, cancer care, emergency care and elective care for longer than the NHS target time has all increased.
It has also increased compared to last year in all areas except the percentage of people waiting six weeks or less for diagnostic testing.
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The IFS stated: 'There remains the ongoing challenge of ensuring that money is spent well, staff are deployed effectively, and productivity in the NHS is enhanced – all essential if waiting times are to be reduced.'
Baillie said: 'It's the Scottish Government which should show leadership when it comes to reforming our health service yet after nearly two decades the SNP is out of ideas.
'The reality is that John Swinney and the SNP have no meaningful plan, no strategy and no ideas to save our NHS.
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'A Scottish Labour government will make sure our NHS is free and available at the point of need, declare a national waiting times emergency, end the 8am rush for a GP appointment and do whatever it takes to fix the NHS.'
Last month the Scottish Government pledged to 'target funding at frontline services' including the NHS as part of its five year financial plan and promised an increase in value for money, investment in preventative measuress to reduce demand on services and to reform public services.
Trade unions have raised concerns about severe staffing shortages in some areas of the health service, including 'chronic understaffing' in the nursing sector,
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Unison Scotland warned in April there were not enough nurses on duty to 'ensure patients are protected from harm like falls, medication errors or other risks'. Its members warned there were not enoguh staff on duty in two thirds of shifts to deliver safe care.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Spending on external consultants is a tiny fraction of the NHS budget.
'NHS Boards make decisions on their spending, including the use of external consultants, where this is necessary to provide the most effective services.
'This information is published to ensure transparency and discussions are held on a regular basis with each NHS Board on how it is utilising its resources to ensure value for money.'
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