Chamber and committees

Do you have a percentage for those vacancies?

Indeed. Has it been escalated?

There is a target for all NHS boards to deliver 3 per cent recurring savings. Is that being addressed as a separate specific item, or is it just part of the whole in terms of meeting the deficit?

The report says:

“The recurring funding gap associated with the ... implementation of the Primary Care Improvement Plan”

will be a risk

“if not addressed by the Scottish Government.”

What is the funding gap in monetary terms? What does the Government need to do to address that gap?

Would you be able to provide that information?

It would be interesting to see whether it is in the same ball park as the percentage for other organisations.

The issues that NHS Forth Valley faces are not dissimilar to those that are faced by other NHS boards, with regard to the difficulty in identifying recurring cost savings.

However, the level of non-recurring savings is very high, at 69 per cent, as a proportion of the £29.3 million in efficiency savings in 2022-23. That is a huge chunk, which means that the board has to identify that amount again the following year. What steps is the board taking to address that problem? It is currently only rolling up the problem into the future—it is not resolving it.

I suppose that I have to ask: is that achievable?

The Scottish Government would possibly benefit from getting input from business on that.

Perhaps Leon Thompson would like to come in.