'Black hole' in funds for health

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Health boards could be facing a funding "black hole" of more than £100m through changes in Scottish government financing, it has been claimed.

Last week a report on NHS finances by spending watchdog Audit Scotland warned of "significant" financial pressures over the next five years.

The Liberal Democrats said the report has revealed a shortfall of £134m.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the Lib Dems were scaremongering and that new funding was being phased in.

The Audit Scotland report warned that the impact of the recession on public sector spending meant NHS budgets were likely to fall.

Audit Scotland were concerned that frontline services could be cut to fund the £200m efficiency savings, so finding an extra £133.9m on top of this could be seriously bad news Ross FinnieLib Dem health spokesman

The government has already pledged that health boards will not suffer cuts under the new funding system.

But Lib Dem health spokesman Ross Finnie said he wanted to know if this commitment still stands.

Mr Finnie said: "Using Audit Scotland figures, we can reveal that the NHS could face a £133.9m funding black hole.

"NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone faces a £51.4m cut. The government's own auditors don't know where the additional funding to fill this gap would come from.

"Audit Scotland were concerned that frontline services could be cut to fund the £200m efficiency savings, so finding an extra £133.9m on top of this could be seriously bad news for vital patient services."

But Ms Sturgeon insisted: "This is ill-informed scaremongering, because in reality the NHS budget is rising next year in real terms to a record £11.347bn."

She said the Audit Scotland figures showed the hypothetical share if the new funding mechanism was brought in tomorrow.

"But we are not doing that - we are phasing in the new funding arrangements over a number of years and our commitment that no NHS board would lose out remains very much the case," Ms Sturgeon added.

All boards will get a standard increase, while some will receive extra cash, she said.