Health Secretary Alex Neil was under growing pressure last night to boost funding for two north health boards after a report warned the NHS faced significant pressures managing its finances and meeting targets.
According to Audit Scotland, NHS Orkney and NHS Highland were among just four boards to receive more than 1% below their target allocations for 2013-14 and 2014-15.
NHS Orkney had a £5.3million shortfall over the two years, while NHS Highland was down £25.5million.
The report revealed: “Receiving funding that is below their target NRAC (National Resource Allocation Committee) allocation may have contributed to financial difficulties in NHS Highland and NHS Orkney.”
Both boards broke even in 2013-14 using “unsustainable methods” and had to borrow money from the Scottish Government – a practice known as brokerage.
Audit Scotland said the allocations were not the only factors causing difficulties for the boards as it had also identified “concerns around financial management”.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said Audit Scotland recognised the boards were underfunded.
“It would surely be better that the brokerage funding be given as part of their overall funding rather than as a loan,” she said.
“It is clear that if they are not receiving sufficient finance to meet the recognised cost of service delivery then this will impact on patient care.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Jim Hume said: “This eye-opening report shows that the SNP government’s cuts agenda to the NHS is coming down the hill when health boards are already teetering on the brink.”
Royal College of Nursing Scotland director, Theresa Fyffe, said: “It’s all very well saying that health boards are managing to balance their books but this is not enough, given that some health boards are relying on emergency additional funding from the Scottish Government or on non-recurring savings to do this.”
The government said all health boards would be within 1% of NRAC allocations by 2016-17.
Mr Neil said the NHS revenue budget would increase by £256million, taking health spending above £12billion for the first time.
“Protecting frontline health services is an absolute priority for this government, and we will do this by increasing the NHS frontline budget despite cuts in the overall budget from Westminster,” he said.