Direct funding for NHS Ayrshire & Arran will increase by £11.6 million to £694.9 million this year. This increase was voted through in the SNP Government’s 2018/19 budget, which Labour and Tory MSPs unanimously voted against.
£145.7 million has also been allocated to deliver transformational change across NHS Scotland, including £10.2 million for new trauma centres and £10 million in respect of the Scottish Cancer Strategy.
In total, Scotland’s NHS resource budget will increase by £373.1 million to £13,599 million in 2018/19.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said:
“Scotland’s health service is undergoing a transformation to meet new pressures and changing demands and this additional resource will ensure services across the country can continue to deliver excellent care and improve the health of our communities.
“The dedicated transformational change funding will extend the provision of care and support closer to people’s homes, boost mental health spending and deepen the integration of health and social care. This investment will support our commitment that more than half of frontline spending will be in community health services by the end of this Parliament.”
Kenneth Gibson MSP added:
“I am delighted that again, NHS Ayrshire & Arran sees an increase in allocated funding as part of the SNP Government’s 2018/19 budget.
“It is worth remembering that the Finance Secretary managed to deliver his Budget against a backdrop of another £211 million in cuts that the UK Tory Government imposed upon us this year and which Labour failed to take issue with during the Budget debates.
“While they continue to join forces against progress such as an £11.6 million increase for health care provision across Ayrshire, I am proud that the SNP Government is not just talking the talk when it comes to our ambitious manifesto commitments to increase health funding by £2,000 million during the course of this 2016-2021 Scottish Parliament term.”
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