THE SCOTTISH Government provided NHS Fife with a welcome boost this week by allocating an extra £3.6million in funding over the next year.

A specific allocation of £1.5m will bring the health board to within one per cent of parity, under the NHS funding formula, a year earlier than planned. NHS Fife will also receive an additional £2.1m specifically to address pressures such as the rising cost of new drugs.

The extra money brings the total uplift for NHS Fife for next year to £17.5m, with the fund part of the additional £65m for health boards announced by the Health Secretary, Shona Robison.

Ms Robison said, “Despite Scotland’s fiscal resource budget being slashed in real terms by 10 per cent by Westminster since 2010, we’ve increased the health resource budget by 4.6 per cent in real terms.

“Our NHS services face challenges as a result of the increase in patients, with more complex illnesses, and the rising costs of expensive new drugs.

“This additional investment of £17.5m increases the resources available to NHS Fife and will help alleviate these pressures, ensuring our NHS can continue to deliver effective and sustainable care to patients across Fife.” Councillor Douglas Chapman said, “We’ve seen seasonal increases in those using A & E and having to keep more older people in hospital until care packages can be put in place by Fife Council. This £3.6m is a very welcome boost as it will help mitigate some of these issues and have some impact in dealing with the inflationary increases of some drugs.

“Hospital staff at every level do a great job at this time of year when there are significant additional winter pressures on the NHS and they know that the overall pot of money Scotland receives from the UK Government has been cut by 10% since 2010. The SNP has increased NHS Scotland funding by 4.6% over the same period and this additional funding is an inflation plus 1% increase, which in the current austerity climate, has to be welcomed.”