Scottish Executive: Extra money has not produced a better NHS
 NHS hospitals in Scotland are delivering less to patients while costing taxpayers more, reports The Scotsman newspaper. Scottish Executive health officials bluntly concede in a report to go before MSPs this week that the billions of pounds of extra cash pumped into hospitals has not led to an increase in clinical activity.
An additional £4bn has been put into the NHS since devolution. The Executive paper was written in response to a report by Members of the Scottish Parliament, which attacked the decline in activity in hospitals, given the extra investment. The MSPs, who sit on Holyrood's Audit Committee, declared: "The committee is therefore very concerned that on current evidence some key service areas may cost more and deliver less." They add: "The decline in activity is particularly concerning given the high levels of investment in recent years."
In its response, to be published this week, the Scottish Executive health department replies: "Agreed. The department shares the committee's concern about the apparent decline in activity set against the high levels of investment and increased staff resources". Health chiefs added several caveats, claiming the figures on activity in hospitals ‘may lag’ behind the reality on the ground, while ministers insist that they do not reflect moves to treat more patients in the community.
However, health economists and opposition parties claimed that there was little doubt that productivity in hospitals has slumped despite the extra cash which has gone in. They also poured doubts on claims that the drop in hospital activity has been compensated for by a rise in GP and health clinic work.
Dr Matthew Dunnigan, senior research fellow at Glasgow University, who has researched productivity levels in the NHS in Scotland, said: "Productivity levels in hospitals have fallen and the data does not show increases in GP activity or nurse-led activity or by health visitors. Quite simply, the extra money is going on salaries and on more costly drugs." Other health chiefs claim that the drop-off in activity is the result of new restrictions on junior doctors' hours, brought about by European regulations.
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