Special Health Board HQs To Stay In Edinburgh And Glasgow

Three of NHS Scotland’s Special Health Boards are to retain their HQ functions in Edinburgh in order to free up more than £20m for investment in frontline services, Shona Robison has announced.

Speaking ahead of the NHS Health Scotland (HS) Annual Review, the Minister for Public Health said that Board, along with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES), will be staying in Edinburgh.

Ms Robison also confirmed that the existing Glasgow-based staff of a fourth Special Health Board, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and those existing Glasgow-based staff from QIS, NES and HS would remain in Glasgow.

Ms Robison said:”To pursue the decision to move the HQs of three NHS Boards would cost around £22m. We believe that this is not the best use of resources during what will be a tight financial settlement period. £22m will be better invested in front line services and in tackling health inequalities – a particularly big challenge in the city of Glasgow.

“It is also the case that staff at these organisations have faced more than two years of uncertainty about the future location of their jobs. The new Scottish government did not want the Boards to go through another round of annual reviews without the issue of their future HQ location plans being resolved.

“Today I am able to remove any uncertainty by announcing that the HQ functions of HS, QIS and NES will remain in Edinburgh and that Glasgow-based NSS staff – as well as the Glasgow-based staff of the other three boards – will continue to be based in Glasgow.

“This decision was very much based on the specific operational needs of the Boards concerned and the considerable saving in financial resources that can be better used on front line health services.”