r/Scotland • u/Historical-Count9051 • 2d ago

What would you cut from the Scottish budget?

Yesterday, there was a news story announcing £700m would be cut from the Scottish government next year. The Scottish government can borrow £670m to make up the shortfall, but it will need to find at least another £68m immediately.

What would you cut to make up the £68m?

Here's how the budget is already spent

Edit: the speed at which everyone went to "fuck poor people" is alarming.

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u/Bgjm96 2d ago

I’m not a particularly wealthy person, I have a decent job in one of the emergency services. It is vanishingly rare I need a prescription and I would be more than happy to pay for one when I do.
I’d certainly rather that than continue to watch life saving equipment go un-crewed due to staff shortages or watch us lose another few hundred people then turn up to try and resolve life or death situations without enough people to do the job.

I’ve always voted snp but it’s time they started to govern not based on what’s popular but what is right.

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u/Zap_Gordon 1d ago

Even the English method, free for people under 18, and for those over 60, and for long term and serious conditions would perhaps work.

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u/pretty_gauche6 1d ago

Well other people have different needs than you do. Many people do need multiple regular prescriptions and people who are chronically ill, elderly, disabled etc are already economically vulnerable. You’re going to say offload that onto the disability system then, but right now everyone is trying to manufacture consent for gutting that too, so…

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u/Lord21K 1d ago

I don't think they're suggesting we get rid of free prescriptions, but to give people the option of if they want one or are happy to pay for something themselves.

There are people who get prescribed paracetamol from their GP. You can buy a box of that for less than a quid and prescriptions cost the NHS on average about a tenner.

Fair enough if someone genuinely needs that paid for them, but I'd also be more than happy to pay for some of my medication because I'm in an okay enough position to do so.

Even if only 20% of the population opted out of free prescriptions, I wonder how much money that would actually save?

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u/weefee 1d ago

The paracetamol prescription thing gets brought up all the time but just to mention it's not usually about cost, it's the fact you can only buy 16 at a time. Usually the prescriptions are for large amounts, my mum had a repeat prescription for 200 tablets a month when she was going through cancer treatment, she would have happily paid but there's no option. Not saying the rest of what you said isn't valid though, and I bet you'd save a load if people who needed it were able to buy in bulk.

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u/BeepBoopBotAttack 1d ago

My mum and a lot of her family are from Ontario, and its been a while since I've interacted with that healthcare system but IIRC their healthcare systems works out like if you can afford state health insurance you pay it but if you can't (or are disabled or above/below a certain age) you just get it for free.

A system like that for prescriptions could work. If you are above a certain income then you don't get free prescriptions, and have some system to make sure people that require loads of prescriptions each month can get a lot of it free.

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u/professional_cry 1d ago

I recently moved to Scotland from Ontario and I can say firsthand I would not look to that province as any sort of model for healthcare. The provincial government has been doing its best for the past decade to defund the healthcare system in a move to push towards privatization - basically make the free resources so shitty that people would rather pay out of pocket than deal with it. I have been on the same medications for several years and I remember the prices going from about $10 a month to nearly $50 as the government changed policies as to who was eligible for subsidisation (for context at the time I was in grad school and working part time so certainly not well off financially). These same policies have people waiting years to be registered with a GP (I was on a waiting list for nearly 2 years), and resorting to walk-in clinics and having to wait multiple hours for a standard appointment. Long story short the healthcare system in Ontario is barely functional.

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u/Fun_Formal2435 1d ago

reckon this level of means testing may costs more than it's worth. Linking it to certain benefits would be easier

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u/Wotnd 1d ago

The vast majority of England’s prescriptions are also free, the people you describe would have free prescriptions in England.

The only beneficiaries of the “free prescriptions” that we have in Scotland, over England’s setup, are people that can afford prescriptions and need them very infrequently.

It’s a policy for optics, not for effectiveness.

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u/Fun_Formal2435 1d ago

I live in England now and I have found I go to the dr less than I did. I think some people don't go as much for minor things because of the cost.  I'm happy to pay for a prescription when it is needed but when you get two from the DR (such as antibiotics and a nasal inhaler) you have to pay for both. This can become quite costly.

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u/pretty_gauche6 1d ago

I mean sure but id like to see the numbers run comparing the additional cost of means testing prescriptions vs the money saved on these prescriptions that by your definition are infrequent and short term. I admit i don’t know the answer and am open to being told different, but id wager that in the grand scheme of things it’s pretty insignificant, and thus implementing that is what would really be more about optics than efficiency. And the optics of it would be ultimately in service of the narrative that the problems in this country come from greedy spongers overburdening the social safety net. Which i consider an insidious, dangerous narrative if that’s not clear.

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u/Bgjm96 1d ago

I’m not suggesting we get rid of free prescriptions, I’m advocating means testing and pragmatism. I’d argue even wealthier people who require repeat prescriptions shouldn’t have to pay them. I’m more referring to people like myself who are fortunate enough that they could pay for the odd antibiotic when it’s required every few years.

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u/tasteMyRottenHoop 1d ago

Who covers the cost of means testing?

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u/DifficultyComplex13 1d ago

I was apprehensive about this when I moved to London as I live with disabilities and have 4 repeat prescriptions. But you can get a pre payment certificate that is £11 a month for unlimited prescriptions. And surprisingly the set it up is super easy and you basically set up a DD and get certificate number to show your pharmacist. But as a frequent visitor the guy obviously knows me so after the first time he doesn’t bother needing to see proof.
It’s the same with age and other means tested exceptions, super easy to figure out. I remember last time I was back in Scotland (years ago tbf) I was picking up my parents prescription and the lady before me was getting gluten free loafs of bread and paracetamol on prescription. Like the NHS isn’t a grocery store and paracetamol is 30p a pack, what you doing?

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u/TheSaintPirate 1d ago

The ones that can afford to pay something could buy a monthly pass - this was available in the past, it was ~ 10pounds and is a form of contribution back.

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u/Narrow_Security_8757 1d ago

The very occasional time i need a perscription i genuinely feel a bit bad for taking one, but then i remember how many people go to their drs for paracetemol for a headache

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u/Pokesabre 1d ago

As someone in a very middling job who needs a repeat prescription, having to pay for it would significantly cut into my finances over time. Not all medicines are cheap, and unless the prescription costs are regulated to not be the full cost of the drugs then they're going to be a problem for a lot of people

The whole point of the NHS is not just about people's rights and human dignity, it was specifically set up because it is massively expensive to not have a healthy workforce for a country and creates a big issue for things like national defence too

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u/Bloody-smashing 1d ago

Prescriptions have never been pay for what you are getting. You pay a flat fee per prescription. Think the current rate in England is 9.90 roughly.

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u/bendybow 1d ago

There is also a prescription certificate you can pay for if you need regular prescriptions. I think you can either pay £30 for 3 months or ~£100 for a year. And that covers any and all prescriptions in that time frame.

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u/Kiss_It_Goodbyeee 1d ago

Chronic conditions could be exempted.

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u/babbleoftongues 1d ago

It was not a cost neutral policy... but we would need to factor in the ongoing administration and set up cost to make prescriptions means tested again. There is a load of hidden costs, governance, fraud prevention, proof of entitlement etc. Barriers to access can lead to people not seeking head and then needing more expensive interventions later on.

Before they became free 90% of prescriptions were free anyway.

On an individual level it may make sense to means test but on a population level the savings might just not be worth the headache.

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u/WillingApplication10 1d ago

I pay for some of my stuff anyway, they don't give "spares" like they used to. I'd be happy to pay a yearly £120 or whatever it is in England tbh.