…By Henry George for TDPel Media.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s chief executive, Jeff Ace, has warned of the “quite extraordinary” challenges that the health service is facing.
Ace explained to MSPs on Holyrood’s Health Committee that his health board cannot technically afford a tenth of the staff working for it.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway is expected to have a deficit this year “for the first time this century,” said Ace.
Achieving efficiency savings would not be enough to tackle the issue, he added, warning that “real difficult decisions” may have to be made.
Ace noted that the financial challenges are not part of the usual “times are difficult” financial pressures that the NHS faces, and all boards are “reporting real difficulties” with breaking even.
The scale of the gap in funds is such that “if I was to turn it into workforce, I technically can’t afford one in 10 of my workforce, but clearly I need all of those people and more to deliver the service demands we are facing,” he said.
Ace suggested that there was a need for radical redesigning of services, as demographic challenges in the coming decades – with Scotland having an aging population – could create an “existential challenge to our current service models.”
Analysis
Ace said NHS leaders and politicians had to be “very bold in our models for what we see as being the right health and care service for Scotland” and must start “engaging with our population about those big changes that are needed.”
Ace’s comments came as he explained the work done by NHS Dumfries and Galloway to improve best value, reduce waste, and improve efficiency and performance.
While initiatives were having an impact, it was “not of the scale to address the problem we face financially,” Ace said.
Ace suggested that smaller boards like Dumfries and Galloway are “going to have to collaborate regionally to a level of engagement we have not managed before.”