Linlithgow MSP welcomes record funding for NHS Lothian

Linlithgow MSP Fiona Hyslop has heralded the record health funding allocated to Lothian Health Board for the coming year.
The NHS is recovering from the Covid pandemic. Stock Picture Michael Gillen.The NHS is recovering from the Covid pandemic. Stock Picture Michael Gillen.
The NHS is recovering from the Covid pandemic. Stock Picture Michael Gillen.

The local health board has been given a record budget of £1.6 Billion for 2022/23 to recover after the dreadful impact of the pandemic.

To help with that recovery, NHS Lothian also has record numbers of staff, with 5093 Whole Time Equivalent staff, an increase of 28.3 per cent compared to the previous year.

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Commenting, Ms Hyslop (SNP) said: “We always appreciate the hard work and dedication of our NHS staff at Lothian Health Board but never more so than over the past two years, and the SNP Scottish Government has recognised that by providing them with record funding for 2022/23.

“This will go a long way in ensuring that Lothian Health Board is well on its way to recovery from the pandemic.

“In Scotland, we have the most well-funded NHS per person and the highest paid healthcare staff in the UK.

"The SNP Scottish Government recognised the hard work and effort of NHS workers by giving them the biggest pay rise in the history of devolution.

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“It is only the SNP that can be trusted with the future of our health service.”

Responding to Ms Hyslop’s comments on the record NHS Lothian funding, Scottish Conservative Lothian List MSP and Shadow Public Health Minister Sue Webber, said: “Everyone recognises how our NHS staff in Lothian and across the country have gone above and beyond during the pandemic. But this is rich from this SNP MSP.

“The SNP are currently overseeing a chronic level of vacancies in social care and services in our community which is acutely impacting the ability of NHS Lothian to deliver crucial services.

“Waiting lists are soaring and we still see community services in Lothian remaining closed.

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“Instead of these boasts, this SNP MSP should be challenging her own Health Secretary over why his flimsy NHS Recovery plan simply isn’t working. We hear a lot about investment from the SNP, but little in the way of other deliverable solutions.

“A&E waiting times are horrific, delayed discharges continue to be on the increase and the backlog for treatments has spiralled out of control.”