Number of NHS boards in Scotland should be cut, says Alex Salmond’s Alba Party

It said the move would free up extra funding for frontline patient care

Ash Regan

The number of NHS boards in Scotland should be reduced, according to Alex Salmond's Alba Party.

It said the combined cost of the salaries of executive management teams currently sits at between £12,265,000 and £12,730,000.

Meanwhile, payments to board members cost the NHS between £3,340,000 and £4,555,000, the party added.

Scotland currently has 14 territorial health boards and seven special boards.

Ash Regan, Alba’s only MSP following her defection from the SNP in October, said: “We do not need 14 separate territorial health boards and seven special health boards for a country the size of Scotland with a population of five million people. These figures show that Scotland is spending valuable NHS resources on unnecessary duplication of staff and expensive bureaucracy at the expense of frontline patient care.

“If by cutting the number of NHS Boards we can reduce the numbers of chief executives, finance directors and other senior managers such as directors of communication we could easily halve the amount we currently spend on employing senior managers and in paying for board members.

“Halving the amount we currently spend on employing executive management teams across 14 boards and in paying board members would free up between £7,806,500 and £8,642,500. That would be enough to employ an additional 200 newly qualified nurses.

“It makes no sense for smaller health boards to be spending over a million pounds in employing senior managers when that money could be better used to employ nurses, health visitors, midwives, doctors and other health professionals.

“It is long past time for the Scottish Government to carry out a review of the number of health boards in Scotland. I am not advocating centralisation of all functions into one NHS board but rather moving to a smaller number of boards which would allow savings to be made. Those savings could then be re-invested in frontline patient care.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “NHS Scotland staffing is at record levels, bolstered by our investment of £18 million to recruit 1,250 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from overseas. Last week’s Scottish Budget also increased health spending by more than half a billion.

“We are incredibly thankful to the NHS workforce for the vital service they provide and we know they face continued pressure.”