202200328371 · FOI · unclear
Emergency Budget Review reprioritising £65m from primary care spending: FOI release
Information requested
In the Emergency Budget Review, the Scottish Government states it is reprioritising £65m from primary care spending, specifically: This has been achieved by a reduction in the planned growth rate for the Primary Care Improvement Fund, including a one-off utilisation of reserve funding held by integration authorities. In addition, it includes re-phasing of some elements of the planned enhancements to community optometry and audiology services.
How much money, broken down by integration authority, has been utilised from the reserve funding described? What elements of the planned enhancements to community optometry and audiology services have been rephased, and exactly how much has been saved through this rephasing, broken down by each element. How much has been reduced in the planned growth rate of the Primary Care Improvement Fund, and how much has been saved by doing so?
Response
Reserves held by Integration Authorities, comprising Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) funding from previous years, have been utilised in funding this year's PCIF allocation, resulting in a one-off benefit. The distribution of these reserves is set out below:
NHS Board Name IA Name In-year reserve adjustment £’000 Ayrshire & Arran East Ayrshire 573 North Ayrshire 554 South Ayrshire 573 Borders Scottish Borders 1,444 Dumfries & Galloway Dumfries and Galloway 1,227 Fife Fife 1,382 Forth Valley Clackmannanshire and Stirling 22 Falkirk 954 Grampian Aberdeen City 26 Aberdeenshire 1,037 Moray 0 Greater Glasgow & Clyde East Dunbartonshire 213 East Renfrewshire 666 Glasgow City 0 Inverclyde 0 Renfrewshire 0 West Dunbartonshire 529 Highland Argyll and Bute 277 Highland 0 Lanarkshire Lanarkshire combined 4,005 Lothian East Lothian 278 Edinburgh 1,203 Midlothian 402 West Lothian 638 Orkney Orkney Islands 0 Shetland Shetland Islands 230 Tayside Angus 0 undee City 274 Perth and Kinross 0 Western Isles Western Isles 157 Total 17,364
In response to your question 1b), the table below sets out how savings have been applied to the community optometry and audiology budgets in 2022-23.
Programme Budget 2022-23 Published Budget £m Applied Saving £m 2022-23 Revised Budget £m Community Eyecare – Reform and Delivery 7.5 4.9 2.6 Audiology Service 2.2 1.9 0.3 Total 9.7 6.8 2.9
Both programmes of work are new for this financial year, having been announced in the 2021 Programme for Government, however the in-year revised budgets allow for legal and contractual commitments associated with these new programmes to continue.
For optometry, delivery schedules for the community low-vision service and expanding General Ophthalmic Services to enhance support for Independent Prescriber optometrists managing anterior eye conditions have been rephased and extended, with the focus instead on preparatory work with NES and NSS business partners. However, work to establish a community glaucoma service is well under way, with initial roll-out planned in some areas of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in 2022-23, moving to national roll-out in future years. For audiology, residual 2022-23 investment is being used to fund preparatory work associated with new models of delivery.
In response to your question 1c), based on revised outturn estimates for Primary Care Improvement Fund 2021-22, the planned growth has decreased by £20m, resulting in an expected £20m saving from the Primary Care Improvement Fund in 2022-23.
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