Health boards spent almost £28.5 million on private firms to meet waiting times guarantees last year, new figures have revealed.
The information was released by Health Secretary Alex Neil in response to a Parliamentary question by Labour’s Jackie Baillie.
A huge chunk of the spend was accounted for by troubled NHS Lothian’s outlay of more than £12m, while NHS Grampian ran up a bill of £5.2m. NHS Tayside’s total was £2.1m, NHS Fife’s £1.9m and NHS Forth Valley spent £1.6m.
Labour health spokeswoman Ms Baillie said: “The SNP have cut nursing staff by 1,500 and reduced hospital bed numbers by 1,400 yet their spending on private health care has increased to £28m so they can say they’re meeting waiting time guarantees.
“This is scandalous and no way to run a health service.
“We need assurances from the SNP now that this unsustainable practice will not be allowed to continue and that NHS resources will equal the demand required to meet waiting times.”
In his answer, Mr Neil said the overall spending on private healthcare represents less than 0.5% of the NHS boards’ baseline resource budget.
He added: “The increase in the use of private healthcare relate mainly to two boards who are currently experiencing capacity issues NHS Grampian and Lothian.
“In relation to NHS Lothian, they are now dealing with the challenge that the ERI was planned with a capacity that is 20% lower than required to meet today’s needs.
“That is why they are currently making significant use of the private healthcare sector at a cost of £12m until they increase sufficient local capacity and staff resources in their hospitals.
“Grampian have recently agreed a £16m investment programme that will increase capacity by building new theatres and employing more doctors, nurses and support staff.
“This additional local capacity will be available in 2014 this will significantly reduce their need of the private healthcare sector from 2014-15.
“The Scottish Government policy is clear that boards should only use the private healthcare sector to address short-term capacity issues.”
Ms Baillie also asked how much it plans to increase bed capacity in order to meet waiting times guarantees. Mr Neil said a new capacity and performance planning tool to support health boards is being developed to ensure hospitals and communities have the right beds in place “to treat patients as Scotland’s health service facing the challenges of an ageing population.”