£70m NHS black hole here to stay as Glasgow transfusion ruled out

The health board in Edinburgh is allocated considerably less cash per head of population than other boards in Scotland, primarily Glasgow, leaving a massive financial gulf.

But Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that would not be addressed by rejigging who got what, and Holyrood has already said health budgets will not be increased in future years as they have been of late.

And while she acknowledged the shortfall in the Lothians and said she would work with local NHS bosses to deal with it, it appears options to redress the balance have run out.

Speaking at NHS Lothian's annual review yesterday Ms Sturgeon said: "It's not a realistic option to take money away from those (health boards] above parity and give it to those below parity.

"That would have a destabalising effect. The scope for flexibility is much more constrained. I will continue to work with NHS Lothian to travel towards parity."

Ms Sturgeon was visibly angered to be fielding a challenge from George Walker, a member of the NHS Lothian board, during a question and answer session from the general public.

She told Mr Walker: "That's cheating. Can I remind you this is for members of the public, not members of the board."

The news will come as a blow to health chiefs, who know that the most feasible way of clawing back some of the 70m is for the Scottish Government to reduce the level of spending in Glasgow, where people receive 1900 per head on average, compared with 1400 here.

A source told the Evening News: "If it doesn't come from there, and we already know the level of overall funding isn't going to increase in health, or anywhere else, then it is difficult to see this changing."

The funding formula used is called the NHS Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) and is based heavily on levels of deprivation.

Because of this, Edinburgh's comparatively wealthy population receives less cash, but experts have criticised the policy for taking less notice of population levels, which are rising in the Lothians, unlike most other health boards.

It is a frustrating position for the health board, which otherwise appears to be getting its balance in order.

Director of finance Susan Goldsmith said: "It is a challenging time but we think we will break even for this year."

Labour's health spokeswoman for Edinburgh Cllr Lesley Hinds said: "While you don't want to be taking money off other health boards, I'm not sure where else they could get money from to reduce this, because it isn't going to be from new money.

"It's been shown that the system is unfair, yet what we hear now is that nothing is going to be done about it."