A further £10 million will be allocated to NHS boards to help cope with added pressures over the winter months.

The funding, which comes on top of the £9 million already allocated to support unscheduled care all year round, will allow health boards to put robust plans in place quickly.

The investment will support health and social care services to increase weekend discharges where patients are fit to go home. Traditionally, the weekend discharge rate is lower than during the week, leading to a backlog of delay going into a Monday morning.

It will help boards with staff planning over the festive bank holidays, ensuring both admission and discharge rates can be maintained, with a focus on better use of community pharmacy and more support to direct people to the best service for them.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced the funding during a visit to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. She heard about the special measures NHS Fife put in place to address seasonal pressures last year, and their plans for the winter ahead.

Ms Freeman said:

"We know winter creates particular pressures on our health and social care system, so it's important that we are well prepared.

"This investment will ensure boards can put appropriate plans in place - particularly to make sure people are discharged in a timely way when it's safe to do so, and that the right staff are in place throughout the system.

"Here in Fife I've seen how they used their extra winter funding last year, to maintain performance levels and reduce delays. There are many examples of good practice like this across the country and it's important these are shared and learned from."

Tricia Marwick, Chair of NHS Fife, said:

"Last winter was an extremely difficult period. At NHS Fife we were extremely proud of our staff and how they responded to the annual challenges of the winter period compounded with the impact of the 'Beast from the East'.

"We have taken time to reflect on our response last winter and to review our systems and process as part of our Winter Planning for 2018/19.

"We are confident that our plans for this winter, working in partnership with Fife Health and Social Care partnership, will serve the people of Fife well and the lessons learned and experience gained  from 2017/18 will ensure that we continue to deliver our frontline services and elected programme over the winter period." 

Background

Breakdown of winter funding allocations 2018/19