NHS Borders is set to have £10m in debts cancelled thanks to additional funding from the UK Government.
The UK Conservative Government has announced a £20 billion per year financial boost for health boards south of the border and as part of current arrangements, NHS Scotland will receive £2 billion each year extra to spend.
As a result, Jeane Freeman, the Scottish Government’s Health Secretary has announced a new three year budget process for health boards and confirmed that the Government would not seek to recover outstanding loans.
NHS England has had it’s funding for the next 5 years announced, with a view to working towards a 10 year plan.
While welcoming the news, local politicians have said that the Scottish Government must ensure that NHS Borders gets its fair share of funding in future.
John Lamont MP said: “This is welcome news, which would not be possible without the UK Government and the Barnett Formula, which the SNP was to scrap. However, the fact that NHS Borders ran up a debt shows that it was underfunded by the Scottish Government for too long.
“Thanks to extra spending by the UK Government, the SNP will soon have £2 billion more to spend on healthcare. The Scottish Government need to recognise that rural health boards are struggling with things like recruitment and make sure they receive the funding they require.
“The Scottish Government need to play catch up and implement longer funding settlements for health boards so that they can plan ahead and they need to confirm where all this extra money is going to be spent.”