NHS Forth Valley "denied more than £100m of funding", investigation claims

A health authority battling back after being put under emergency measures almost two years ago have been denied more than £100 million of vital cash by the Scottish Government over 15 years, an investigation claims.

NHS Forth Valley was under-funded by £105.7m, a report claimed.

Health chiefs use the National Resource Allocation (NRA) formula to calculate how much funding should be spread across the country based on the demand on services in each area.

The investigation revealed that a major reason for the shortfall in several regions appears to be a major overspend in Greater Glasgow, which has been handed £743m more than the formula says it is due.

A spokesperson for NHS Forth Valley said: “NHS Forth Valley has received a number of funding uplifts in recent years to ensure we remain within 0.6 per cent of NRAC parity.

“The calculation for each NHS Board can also change over time in line with changes in the population across Scotland.

“We also understand that work is underway at a national level to review the funding formula to help ensure it continues to allocate funding according to the healthcare needs in each NHS Board area.”

The Scottish Government said it had invested a record £19.5billion in health and social care for this year.

They added: “In 2024-25 we added an additional £31.1m funding, ensuring all boards remain within 0.6 per cent of parity, and since 2012-13 over £3.5bilion of additional funding has been allocated to those NHS boards before their NRAC parity levels.We have committed to a review of the funding formula that supports vital work to reduce health inequalities, ensuring we continue to allocate funding according to the relative need for healthcare in each board area and work on this is under way.”