Welcome for increase in Western Isles NHS funding 16/2/14
In the next financial year NHS Western Isles will receive £62.2 million from the Scottish Government, which represents a 2.6% increase in funding.
In total Scotland’s 14 regional health boards will benefit from an £248 million increase in funding for the coming year.
Isles MSP Alasdair Allan welcomed the rise saying it further demonstrated the “priority that the Scottish Government is putting on protecting the NHS, despite the UK Government’s cuts to Scotland’s overall budget.”
He said the latest increase in funding means that, between the SNP taking office in 2007 and 2015/16, an extra £2.1 billion will have been invested in NHS Scotland’s resource budget.
Alasdair Allan commented: “The increase in funding is positive not only for NHS Western Isles but for health boards throughout Scotland. These above inflation increases are key to ensuring that our health service has the resources it needs to treat people.
“The critical work that the NHS does to look after the health of people in Scotland is valued incredibly highly by everyone, which is why it is so important that it is resourced as well as it can be.
“In the face of savage budget cuts from Westminster, the Scottish Government has made protecting the NHS one of its top priorities.
“This Scottish Government will always do everything it can to safeguard our NHS because unlike Westminster, it recognises the value of maintaining it as the publicly funded service value so highly.”