NHS Scotland: All new building projects put on hold as money runs out

Scotland’s health boards have been told countless building projects have been postponed as there is no more money available

Plans to build a dozen new NHS hospitals, surgeries and treatment centres have been delayed for at least two years.

The Scottish Government has told Scotland's health boards there is no money available for the countless building projects that had been planned.

Amongst the projects being delayed is a network of ten treatment centres, which were expected to create at least 40,000 additional elective surgeries, diagnostic centres and other procedures a year by 2026.

An upgrade of Raigmore Hospital's maternity ward in Inverness is among the building projects being delayed. Image: Jane Barlow/Press Association.

Last week health secretary Neil Gray said these treatment centres were part of his “overriding mission” to increase capacity in Scotland’s NHS. This includes a new cancer centre and eye hospital in Edinburgh and a national treatment centre in Livingston for NHS Lothian.

In NHS Highland, the buildings impacted include a replacement hospital in Fort William, an upgrade of Caithness General Hospital and Raigmore Hospital’s maternity ward in Inverness, and relocating two GP practices to Cowal Community Hospital in Dunoon.

There will be delays in replacing Monklands Hospital in Airdrie and constructing a national treatment centre in Cumbernauld for NHS Lanarkshire.

Meanwhile in NHS Grampian the decision will impact on a national treatment centre in Aberdeen, and an MRI scanner and refurbishment of the mental health ward at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.

It will also impact on a new national treatment centre for NHS Ayrshire and Arran at Carrick Glen Hospital in Ayr, and a national treatment centre for NHS Tayside at Perth Royal Infirmary.

Scottish ministers will now unveil a revised NHS infrastructure plan in the spring – but in the meantime the Government says essential maintenance in NHS buildings will be prioritised.

This comes after experts warned NHS Scotland would be unlikely to survive without extra funding after finance secretary Shona Robison unveiled her 2024/25 Budget.

Dr Iain Kennedy, chair of BMA Scotland, told the BBC: “We have been saying for some time that the NHS in Scotland does not have the resources to be sustainable in the future.”

He said too many hospitals were “getting a bit crumbly” and warned waiting lists were only going to get longer. Dr Kennedy also warned the health service needed to remain “free at the point of delivery”, while at the same time needing to modernise.

“We can’t have a free buffet for all, where it is an all-you-can-eat buffet,” he said. “We definitely need to prioritise and say what we will provide and what we won’t provide.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the capital funding position was “extremely challenging”.

“The UK Government did not inflation-proof its capital budget, which has resulted in nearly a 10 per cent real-terms cut in the Scottish Government’s capital funding over the medium term between 2023/24 and 2027/28,” she said.

“Our emphasis for the immediate future will be on addressing backlog maintenance and essential equipment replacement. As a result of the cut in our capital budget, a revised infrastructure investment plan will be published in the spring and all due consideration will be given to what projects can be included within that revised plan.”

Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman, said: “With almost one in six Scots stuck on an NHS waiting list, we cannot afford any more SNP NHS chaos.

“New national treatment centres were at the heart of the SNP’s NHS recovery plan and these delays spell disaster for waiting lists in Scotland. This is yet more broken promises from an SNP Government with no plan.

“The SNP must come clean on when these projects will get back on track and how they will ensure Scots can get the treatment they need in the meantime.”

Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ health spokesman, added: “This is another hammer blow for Scotland’s NHS. Our health service is already hopelessly overstretched due to the SNP’s woeful workforce planning – and now it is set to pay for the Nationalists’ financial mismanagement too.

“Despite record UK government block funding, the SNP’s years of wasteful spending and sluggish growth has created an enormous black hole in Scotland’s finances, leading to last month’s tax-and-axe Budget, and now the apparent shelving of new NHS building projects.

“Humza Yousaf’s flimsy Covid recovery plan rested on new treatment centres being built across the country to reduce waiting lists. If some of these are to be mothballed, it will be devastating.

“The First Minister and Neil Gray, as the latest SNP health secretary, must come clean on what they are planning.”