Press Release
28th June 2001
Investment in Beds, Not Bureaucracy
MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has urged Scottish Executive Ministers to ensure that the extra resources going into the National Health Service are spent on patient care at the front line.
Questioning Finance and Local Government Minister, Angus MacKay, after his announcement in the Chamber that an extra £231 million is to be invested in the NHS and personal care, Mr McNeil said:
"I welcome the minister's statement, as will many of my constituents. ... But how can we reassure the patients and the professionals that the additional money for the health service will directly affect front-line services and will not end up in some black hole of bureaucracy?"
Mr MacKay responded, saying:
"That is an important point, which Duncan McNeil has raised with me previously. ... It is important that the money gets to the front end of service delivery as quickly as possible.
"Those are the areas in which people in Scotland depend on the decisions that are announced in statements such as this one being translated into reality. That is what makes a substantial difference to the quality of services that they experience and the value that they attach to the Scottish Parliament."
During Question Time later in the day, Mr McNeil returned to the theme, asking of Health Minister, Susan Deacon:
"Does the minister accept that, as I said in relation to the Minister for Finance and Local Government's statement earlier today, there seems to be a real problem in getting the money that we allocate into front-line services?"
The Minister affirmed that the money will be directed to the front line, saying:
"I share the commitment that Angus MacKay gave this morning, and I can certainly give the assurance that the additional resources for health that Angus MacKay announced in his statement today will be directed to the front line — to areas throughout Scotland, where they will impact positively."
ENDS
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