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Protecting frontline NHS services
29/06/2010
Statistics out today show that efforts to protect frontline NHS services and secure the finances of the health service are having positive results, according to Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.
The figures from ISD, the statistics arm of the NHS, show that:
- The cost of agency nursing in Scotland has decreased from £26 million to £8 million - a reduction of 69 per cent over the last six years
- More than 95 per cent of patients urgently referred with suspicion of cancer are being treated within 62 days of referral
- The highest proportion of NHS dentists are working in the most deprived areas, ensuring improved access to those who need dental care most
- The number of dentists has risen from 2739 as at 31 March 2009 to 2847 as at March 31, 2010, an increase of 3.9 per cent
- Teenage pregnancies have fallen five per cent since 2007.
Ms Sturgeon said that, despite the 'toughest financial settlement since devolution', health spending in Scotland has been protected and has risen in real terms to a record £11.35 billion in 2010-11.
Ms Sturgeon said:
"These figures show that we are continuing to make progress not only in safeguarding but improving on frontline services and using the NHS's resources more efficiently.
"We are continuing to ensure NHS boards across Scotland scrutinise the quality and efficiency of absolutely everything they do. These figures show this is paying off.
"The downward trend in the costs of agency nursing is evidence of this, with the money saved retained by NHS boards and ploughed back into frontline patient care.
"It is also encouraging that teenage pregnancies are falling and that dentists are concentrating their efforts in deprived areas.
"All in all, I am confident that this shows that we are beginning to make inroads into tackling Scotland's significant health inequalities."