NHS Fife faces financial challenges

A report to the NHS Fife board last week highlighted that in 2019/20, it had been “significantly short of the savings required”, despite delivering balanced financial positions against its revenue and capital resource limits.

The report stated that there had been an overspend of £14.4 million in acute services during the last financial year, which was in part driven by the continued pressure of using agency locums and nursing recruitment, while backfill costs in relation to core staff had also risen due to an increased volume of vacant posts and sustained high levels of sickness.

“Patient safety and high quality care are a priority for NHS Fife and, during the last financial year, we have had to make use of external locum doctors to fill key vacancies within some specialities to maintain vital services,” said NHS Fife chief executive Carol Potter.

“In spite of national recruitment challenges across certain specialities, our proactive recruitment activities have enabled us to recruit to a number of key vacancies. The average sickness absence rate within our Acute Services Division for the 2019 last financial year was 5.86 per cent. The main reasons for absence include gastro-intestinal, musculoskeletal and mental health issues. NHS Fife is currently reassessing the 2020/21 financial plan, in line with the national response to Covid-19.”

Concerns were also raised at the meeting about Fife Health and Social Care’s £10.25 million overspend for the financial year, and the impact the risk share agreement NHS Fife has with Fife Council would impact on its financial position.