A report published today reveals that the financial performance of the NHS in Scotland was "good" over the past year, and it met most of its national targets for patient care and service improvement.
So far so god, but the report also says the service faces significant financial pressures and there are deep-seated health-related problems that it cannot deal with alone.
The Audit Scotland report Overview of the NHS in Scotland's performance in 2008/09, reviews the financial performance of the NHS and examines its progress against national performance targets over the past year.
It reveals that all NHS boards met their financial targets in 2008-09 and the health service had an overall £4m underspend. However the current financial year, 2009-10, will be the peak year for public spending for some time to come, and budgets are predicted to reduce in real terms over the next five years.
The NHS continues to face a number of cost pressures, and in the current financial climate it needs to focus on efficiency and productivity while continuing to provide safe and quality services for patients, the report says.
To help achieve this, it needs better information on quality, costs and activity. The report also says people in Scotland are living longer and some key indicators of health are showing improvement. But there are deep-seated health-related problems such as drug and alcohol misuse and teenage pregnancy.
The NHS cannot deal with these by itself and needs to work with other parts of the public sector, such as education and social services, is the report's conclusion.
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
