The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Over £6 billion to improve health services

20/02/2006

Patients will benefit from a massive investment of almost £6.5 billion to NHS boards.

This funding will help the NHS drive up standards for patients while continuing to drive down waiting times.

Health Minister Andy Kerr said:

"Late last year we published 'Delivering for Health', underlining our commitment to radically transform the health service.

"I want Boards across the country to use this funding to deliver the highest standards of patient care as local as possible and as specialised as necessary.

"It is important to remember that we have made great progress in the last year. Scotland's big three killers - Cancer, Heart Disease and Stroke are all down, waiting times are at record lows, while staff numbers are records highs.

"I am determined that these trends will continue, and that patients will continue to reap the rewards of a modern, accessible health service."

The revenue allocations announced today are calculated using the Arbuthnott formula. The formula takes account of the population in the NHS Board area, the age of the population, gender, level of deprivation and the proportion of population living in remote and rural areas. NHS Boards receive funding based on their need using the Arbuthnott formula.

The Arbuthnott formula has been used to calculate how NHS Argyll and Clyde's allocation should be split between NHS Greater Glasgow and NHS Highland. As a result NHS Greater Glasgow received £424.449 million and NHS Highland recived £125.289 million.

NHS Boards have been given a general allocation of £6,436.205 million for 2006-07, an average increase over the equivalent 2005-06 allocation of 7.25 per cent. All NHS Boards have received a standard increase of 6.75 per cent, with those boards currently below their Arbuthnott formula target allocation receiving more.

A breakdown of each NHS board's allocation is as follows:

Allocations to Special Health Boards for 2006-07 are as follows: