News / Allocations raised for Wales and Scotland

Welsh health and social services minister Edwina Hart has acknowledged that NHS Wales faces ‘significant financial challenges’ in 2010/11 after confirming that health boards’ allocations will increase by 0.4%.

The increase has been calculated following the removal of funding for services now provided by the Public Health Wales NHS Trust. This will be retained as a central budget.

In a covering letter to the revenue allocations, Ms Hart said: ‘My officials are working with your organisations to assess and confirm the scale of the challenge, and ensure robust plans were in place to manage it.’

Despite the tough challenge, NHS Wales chief executive Paul Williams delivered an uncompromising message, saying each organisation should deliver the minister’s priorities within the funding and ‘without exception’.

The boards will receive a cash increase of £21m on revenue in 2010/11. Funding for a number of hospital and community health services has been ring-fenced, but the number of ring-fenced services has been greatly reduced.

Scottish NHS boards have also been told their allocations for the new financial year. Revenue funding will rise by 2.7% to £8.46bn in 2010/11. Each board will receive a minimum of 2.55%.

Six boards – NHS Fife, Forth Valley, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Orkney – will get higher increases. But some boards suggested they were not being moved sufficiently quickly to their target allocations under the new National Resource Allocation Committee formula.

Special boards, such as the ambulance service, will see their allocations uplifted by 2.15%.

All boards are required to make a 2% efficiency saving, which they keep to reinvest in frontline services. The overall health budget will rise in 2010/11 by 2.4% to £11.35bn.

‘This above inflation increase in revenue funding to NHS boards across Scotland in these difficult economic times underlines the Scottish government’s unshakeable commitment to our publicly funded mutual health service,’ said health secretary Nicola Sturgeon.