Condemned as SNP incompetence by one-day-a-week Sandesh Gulhane MSP (con) whose experience as a locum was in England, this increase in locum doctor and bank nurse costs doubling in 2021/22, needs to be put into perspective.
The increase is largely the result of Covid absence.
The most recent figure for equivalent cost in NHS England is £6.2 billion for 2019/20, before Covid absences began to climb.
Supporting the NHS to eliminate off-framework spend and helping build a sustainable workforce for the future
Regular readers will remember the sums.
With 10 times the population, all things being equal, the cost in England in 2020/21, should be £4.2 billion but, even before the pandemic, it was £6.2 billion, nearly 50% higher. What will it be for 2020/21 after the absences surge due to Covid?
Talking-up Scotland 
The NHS (UK) costs £120Billion. Scotland funds SNHS £15Billion. (Block Grant).
One of the biggest public spends. Biggest employer.
Keeping people well saves money. Less people end up in ill health and poverty. Pensioner are the most in poverty. If the Gov pension was increased it would cost less in administration costs and benefits management. The costs of administration equal pension funding.
Gov (UK) pension £6Billion in Scotland. Comes from monies raised in Scotland (£66Billion). Gov (UK) pension £72Billion in the South. People on average live longer because of higher incomes. The wealth taken from Scotland (80’s) and Westminster neglect of the Scottish economy.
The ConDems cut NHS funding £20Billion over five years. It had to be increased. The unregulated, illegal PPE contracts lost £Billions. Another scandal.
LikeLike