Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

NHS funding fears as Buchan population continues to boom

Post Thumbnail

Community leaders and politicians have raised fears that local health services in Buchan will not be able to meet demand if further housing is approved.

Plans have been lodged for nearly 40 homes at Crimond, which could bring more than 100 residents to the village.

And although the homes will be served by a new GP and pharmacy centre, a major 600-home development in nearby Fraserburgh will put even more pressure on the health service.

The Crimond proposals were unveiled just days after fears about dwindling health resources were raised by another Buchan community.

Now senior politicians have voiced their concerns, with one Labour MSP criticising the Scottish Government for failing to support NHS Grampian with the funding to care for a booming population.

Last week Deer Community Council has released a statement pleading for more healthcare provisions for the area.

A spokesman said: “There are thousands of houses going up and you can end up waiting a fortnight for an appointment at the health centre. It can only get worse.”

Last night Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said: “The issue the community council has raised is a valid one.

“The big problem facing NHS Grampian is the funding it receives from the Scottish Government.

“In 2007 – just before the SNP took power – there was a funding review which agreed the national resource allocation should be updated to reflect growing rural populations.

“Although the government has accepted that, they’ve moved so slowly that the NHS is now £30million behind what it needs to meet population demands.”

An NHS spokesman said that the health board’s short-term priority was clearing up backlogs and replacing equipment.

He added: “The major development in Aberdeenshire will be a replacement for the health centre in Inverurie, which is no longer fit for purpose.”

A Scottish Government spokesman defended the current spending and said: “As we have previously stated, as part of this year’s funding settlement for NHS Scotland, NHS Grampian received additional resource funding of £34.5m in 2014-15. This

represents a 4.6% increase.”

.