What proportion of the health budget has been devoted to preventative and public health measures year-on-year since 2021?
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care | Answered on 08/10/2024
Whilst we can clearly identify certain areas of preventative spending, we do not set the budget each year in a way which fully distinguishes between preventative funding and that allocated further along healthcare pathways, for example, in acute care. The vast majority of funding allocated to Health Boards is issued as discretionary funding and it is then down to each Health Board to provide services that meet the needs of their populations.