MCALPINE WELCOMES NHS FUNDING BOOST
Joan McAlpine has welcomed the announcement of a real terms increase in funding for Scotland’s health boards. The SNP MSP hailed the news as further demonstration of the priority that the Scottish Government is putting on protecting the NHS.
In the next financial year NHS Dumfries and Galloway will receive an allocation of £259.7 million from the Scottish Government, which represents a 2.5% increase in funding.
In total Scotland’s 14 regional health boards will benefit from an £248 million increase in funding for 2014/15.
This latest increase in funding means that, between the SNP taking office in 2007 and 2015/16, an extra £2.1 billion will have been invested in NHS Scotland’s resource budget.
Commenting on the announcement Ms McAlpine said:
“I am delighted to welcome this new increase in funding not only for NHS Dumfries and Galloway but for health boards throughout Scotland. These above inflation increases are key to ensuring that our health service has the resources it needs to treat people.
“The critical work that the NHS does to look after the health of people in Scotland is valued incredibly highly by everyone, which is why it is so important that it is resourced as well as it can be.
“In the face of savage budget cuts from Westminster, the Scottish Government has made protecting the NHS one of its top priorities.
“This Scottish Government will always do everything it can to safeguard our NHS because unlike Westminster, it recognises the value of maintaining it as the publicly funded service value so highly.”
