NHS staff costs account for 51.5% of health budget, figures show

Spending on NHS staff reached 51.5% of the total budget in the 2022-23 financial year, figures show.

Statistics released by Public Health Scotland reveal £16 billion was spent by the health service – a real-terms reduction from the previous year of 2.8%.

Total spending has increased in real-terms by 24% since 2012-13.

A total of £8.2 billion was spent on staff, up £529 million from 2021-22 – the equivalent of 6.9%.

Workforce spending has increased from 47.6% of the budget since 2017-18, with the report saying this has been caused by “increasing numbers of staff, particularly during the pandemic, but also larger annual pay awards in recent years in response to general inflation”.

Hospital-based services accounted for £8.9 billion, according to the report, an increase of 14.5% in real-terms since 2018-19, despite a slight dip of 0.4% in the previous year.

But family health services – which includes local GPs, dental and local pharmacies – saw a real-terms increase of 3.6% since 2012-13, with £3.1 billion spent in 2022-23.