Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
Although I am grateful for Mr Kerr’s kind comments at the outset, I cannot agree with his conclusion. The NRAC formula provides target shares for regional national health service boards. The Government’s approach has been to move boards towards NRAC parity gradually over a number of years, backed by significant additional investment. Since 2012-13, more than £4 billion of additional funding has been committed to boards that are below their NRAC parity levels, including additional funding for NHS Grampian. NHS Grampian’s £800,000 share of the £55 million additional parity funding maintains the board within 0.6 of the NRAC parity target.
However, under new management and the board’s assurance process through the Scottish Government, we are seeing significant progress, and a better grip and control over the finances at NHS Grampian. As I have said repeatedly to Mr Kerr and other colleagues, that cannot be to the detriment of the services that patients receive. I am confident that we can achieve that.