NHS Tayside smashed money-saving expectations, according to a new report that stated more than £1.1 billion was invested in frontline care over the last five years thanks to a nationwide efficiency drive.
Health boards across Scotland managed to save £270 million last year alone, beating their target of making savings of 3%.
NHS Tayside saved £25m in the year to March 2013, when it had planned to cut back £24m. NHS Fife and NHS Forth Valley both hit their targets, which sat just under £20m and a little over £10m, respectively.
Health Secretary Alex Neil praised NHS staff for finding “innovative ways” of saving cash, citing measures such as reducing bureaucracy to free up additional time for patient care.
He said: “While we are striving to become more efficient with taxpayers’ money, we remain committed to protecting spending on health and our latest £12.1bn resource budget reflects a funding increase in real terms for both 2014/15 and 2015/16.”
A new IT system to manage patient transport helped Scottish Ambulance Service save more than £2.5m.