Progress at NHS Tayside but risks remain

NHS Tayside has made progress on governance, leadership and sustainability, and is well on the way to delivering its financial targets for 2018/19, according to a report for the Scottish government.

Following the final update from the Assurance and Advisory Group (AAG), commissioned in 2017 to help the health board return to greater financial sustainability, health secretary Jeane Freeman (pictured) accepted improvements have been made. She re-designated Tayside as stage 4 on the performance escalation framework. It had previously been at the highest risk level (5). Stage 4 notes significant risks to delivery, quality, financial performance or safety.

The AAG said the board was on track to deliver its planned £18.7m overspend in 2018/19 (excluding a planned £3.6m repayment) and had made strides in reining in spending. Overspending had fallen from £1.9m a month between April and June 2018 to an average of £1.5m a month from July 2018 to January this year.

It had reduced agency staff use, increased productivity and delivered savings in procurement, medicines, corporate services, estates and facilities. The board is forecasting efficiency savings of £32.2m in 2018/19 against a planned £29.4m.

Ms Freeman paid tribute to the work of the board and the AAG.  ‘This is just the start of the journey for the new chief executive, Grant Archibald, in making services the best they can be for patients of NHS Tayside,’ she said. ‘We will continue to work closely with the board in achieving its aims over the coming months and years.’