NHS Fife is facing unprecedented financial pressures. We must find £51.4 million in savings to work within the budget allocated by the Scottish Government and meet our statutory obligations.

Whilst we are required to make significant savings, we are committed to doing so without compromising patient safety or the standard of care we provide. This means finding efficiencies and improvements where we can – but also making difficult decisions about how, where, and when we deliver services.

Our approach

To address this challenge, we’ve developed the Re-form, Transform, and Perform (RTP) framework. RTP is about more than just saving money; it’s about creating a sustainable NHS Fife that can adapt to changing needs while maintaining high-quality patient care.

We're committed to:

• Transparency: openly communicating our financial situation and the implications for services.
• Engagement: involving patients, communities, and stakeholders in shaping the future of NHS Fife.
• Innovation: finding new and better ways to deliver care, and making the most of our resources.
• Maintaining standards: making savings without compromising patient safety or the standard of care we provide

Progress to date

Despite the challenges, we've already made significant progress, forecasting £25 million in savings through actions like closing under-utilised buildings, making changes to the way emergency care is managed, reducing our use of agency staff, reviewing medicines prescriptions, and re-negotiating some finance contracts.

However, more needs to be done. We must find an additional £26.4 million. This will require tough decisions that will likely impact some services across Fife.

Let’s Talk

Given the scale and complexity of the challenge, we want to ensure people across Fife understand how we currently deliver health and care services and why we do it this way. We also want to outline some of the nuances in doing so.

It is in this spirit of openness, honesty, and responsibility (one of our four core values) that we are saying ‘Let’s Talk’. Through this two-way conversation, we want to explore a range of topics and themes that are regularly raised to help inform, address concerns, and dispel some common myths we often see.

We hope that ‘Let’s Talk’ will allow us to continue our journey of re-form and transformation from a shared understanding. This will allow us to engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue as we address the challenging and difficult decisions that will need to be made. Together, we can create a sustainable NHS Fife that meets the needs of everyone in our community.