Moray visit sees Health Secretary Neil Gray defend NHS Grampian escalation
Scotland’s Health Secretary has defended the decision to place NHS Grampian one step away from direct government control, during a visit to Moray.
Neil Gray MSP said an “particularly acute” situation had led to oversight of the health board being stepped up, over both finance and performance issues.
NHS Grampian was escalated to Stage 4 of NHS Scotland’s performance framework, the final level before the Scottish Government takes charge, in May.
Speaking during a visit to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin, which also saw him praise the progress of efforts to bring back full maternity services, the Health Secretary warned that the escalation would lead to “difficult decisions”.
Documents released ahead of an NHS Grampian Board Meeting confirmed that the new regime will see an “assurance board” set up to scrutinise the health board, and consultants KPMG draw up a plan for more cuts.
Along with NHS Grampian having the highest total deficit of any Scottish health board, Mr Gray said the new measures were also an attempt to tackle problems like ambulance queues and last year’s critical incident.
“It's particularly acute in Grampian, I think we've got to recognise that,” the Health Secretary added.
The senior minister, who was pictured speaking to NHS Grampian’s interim chief executive Adam Coldwells during the visit, said he was expecting management to take “realistic and proportionate” decisions.
He argued that funding levels set by the UK Government would mean that “recurring savings” imposed on NHS England would be passed on to Scotland, but that providing more “preventative” healthcare could reduce costs.
“I recognise that there are going to be difficult decisions that have to be made,” he said.
“But I'm underpinning that on the basis of what is to come around our population health framework and our service renewal framework, which is about shifting to a more preventative model, shifting the balance of care from acute settings into the community.
“That will in itself, I believe, realise savings.
“But crucially, the primary reason for doing this is to deliver better quality services earlier in somebody's journey.
“And that's what I'm hoping we can see in Grampian as well.”
NHS Grampian currently has the lowest bed base, per head of population, of any Scottish health board.
And, while it has the highest total deficit of any health board, two other areas have higher deficits as a proportion of overall budget.
