NHS Covid-19 funding increased

An additional £380 million is being allocated to Health Boards to help with costs arising from the pandemic.

This comes on top of the £1.7 billion already provided to Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships last year. Further financial support will be made available as necessary over the course of this year.

This additional funding includes ongoing support for the vaccination programme, the Test and Protect system, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and care workers.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said:

“Although we are hopefully emerging from this pandemic, coronavirus continues to add significant pressures to our health and care services. We will continue to assess the impact of COVID-19 and provide Health and Care services with the support they require. The remobilisation of the NHS is among our top priorities. We will publish a national recovery plan within the first 100 days of this government.

“The £380 million includes £90.3 million for Test and Protect, a further £76.8 million for the COVID and extended flu vaccination programmes, and £85.5 million allocated to National Services Scotland for PPE costs. The rest of the funding will cover costs including additional staffing to support hospital scale-up, equipment, maintenance and IT.”

Background

The 2021-22 Scottish Budget takes total health portfolio funding in excess of £16 billion – an increase of over £800 million (5.3%) - with a further £1.08 billion of funding to address pressures related to COVID-19.