Staff costs

The request was successful.

Dear Scottish Government,

I would be grateful if you would inform me of the following:

How much money has be spent in each of the previous five years on the direct staffing costs (salaries, pension, NI contributions) of front line medical staff in the NHS in Scotland. That is to say all staff qualified medically, and directly involved in the treatment of patients on a face to face basis.

Yours faithfully,

Will Smith

Scottish Government

29 October 2010

Dear Mr Smith

1.  Thank you for your request dated 1 October 2010 under the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for staff costing data. 
Specifically, you asked:

 

     How much money has be spent in each of the previous five years on

     the direct staffing costs (salaries, pension, NI contributions)
of

     front line medical staff in the NHS in Scotland. That is to say
all

     staff qualified medically, and directly involved in the treatment

     of patients on a face to face basis.

2.  Staff cost information based on that definition of "front line" is
not held by the Scottish Government.  However, Information Services
Division of NHS National Services Scotland publishes medical and dental
staffing costs for hospital services and for community services.  You
might find this useful as a proxy for your definition of frontline.

3.  Summary costs are in the table below:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Medical & Dental Staff Costs, Hospital Services And Community Services, 2005-2009, £000 |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Sector | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
|---------+------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
|Hospital |            |            |          |              |              |
|Sector | 933,604 | 894,607 |     845,194 | 803,593 | 745,254 |
|---------+------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
|Community|            |            |              |              |              |
|Sector | 123,666 | 117,798 | 88,141 | 85,575 | 71,569 |
|---------+------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
|Total |          |          |             |             |             |
| | 1,057,270 | 1,012,405 | 936,379 | 889,168 | 816,823 |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Source: Scottish Health Service Costs, Information Services Division, NHS National Services Scotland |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

4.  Please note that:

o there have been numerous changes to the Costs Book data templates and
to the accounting guidance during this time period.  While every
attempt has been made to make year-on-year comparisons of the data
possible, some of the variations across the period may be due to other
factors such as organisational change or missing data.

o no adjustment has been made to take account of inflation

o these data cover the 14 territorial health boards and the two special
health boards (State Hospital and Golden Jubilee National Hospital)
that provide direct patient care

o staff costs include employer contributions to pensions and national
insurance

5.  Here are links to the more detail on - and a full summary of - the
cost data:

Web page - [1]http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/3672.html

Excel file -
[2]http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/F...

6.  If you are unhappy with this response to your request, you may ask us
to carry out an internal review, by writing to:

Derek Feeley

Acting Director General - Health

St. Andrew's House

Regent Road

Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

7.  Your request should explain why you wish a review to be carried out,
and should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this letter, and
we will reply within 20 working days of receipt. If you are not satisfied
with the result of the review, you then have the right to make a formal
complaint to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Chris Dodds

CHRIS DODDS

Scottish Government

Health Finance Directorate| Health Analytical Services

0131 244 5417

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References

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1. http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/3672.html
2. http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/F...