Midlothian MSP welcomes record NHS Lothian funding

The local health board has been given a record budget of £1.6 billion for 2022/23 to recover after the dreadful impact of the Covid pandemic.

To help with that recovery, NHS Lothian also has record numbers of staff, with 5093.8 Whole Time Equivalent staff, an increase of 28.3 per cent on the previous year.

Ms Grahame, (SNP) said: “We always appreciate the hard work and dedication of our NHS staff at NHS Lothian but never more so than over the past two years, and the SNP Scottish Government has recognised that by providing them with record funding for 2022/23.

“This will go a long way in ensuring that NHS Lothian is well on its way to recovery from the pandemic.

“In Scotland, we have the most well-funded NHS per person and the highest paid healthcare staff in the UK. The SNP Scottish Government recognised the hard work and effort of NHS workers by giving them the biggest pay rise in the history of devolution.”

In response, Scottish Conservative Lothian List MSP and Shadow Public Health Minister, Sue Webber, said: “Everyone recognises how our NHS staff in Lothian and across the country have gone above and beyond during the pandemic. But this is rich from this SNP MSP.

“The SNP are currently overseeing a chronic level of vacancies in social care and services in our community which is acutely impacting the ability of NHS Lothian to deliver crucial services.

"Waiting lists are soaring and we still see community services in Lothian.”

She added: “Instead of these boasts, this SNP MSP should be challenging her own Health Secretary over why his flimsy NHS Recovery plan simply isn’t working. We hear a lot about investment from the SNP, but little in the way of other deliverable solutions.

“A&E waiting times are horrific, delayed discharges continue to be on the increase and the backlog for treatments has spiralled out of control.”