PERSONAL Protective Equipment (PPE) cost NHS Fife and the taxpayer £6.3 million after the COVID outbreak presented a new challenge to safety.

Worldwide demand for PPE grew dramatically and prices doubled with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) distributing 1.1 billion items between March 2020 and April 2021.

From April 2020 to March 2021, £1.2m was also spent on COVID testing kits with expenditure increasing significantly for the health board through the financial year.

A total of £53m was spent specifically on COVID measures such as staffing, equipment and vaccinations, while £20m of this was also transferred to Fife Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board.

Despite the financial challenges, NHS Fife finished the year with a small surplus but it was boosted by £10m of additional funding from the Scottish Government.

Patricia Fraser, from Audit Scotland, presented an annual report to the Fife NHS Board on Tuesday. She gave a verbal summary of their findings to members as audited accounts cannot be made available publicly prior to them being laid formally before the Scottish Parliament.

She said: "You will see throughout the report the theme of COVID is reflected.

"We have noted that NHS Fife has a plan for one year going forward and there is a budget gap identified of £22m.

"It's assumed that this will be met by the Scottish Government but we recommend that NHS Fife has a contingency plan in case it's not met."

Audit Scotland highlighted the increased staff costs over the pandemic with a 19.4 per cent staff turnaround over 2021 – described as "quite significant".

Ms Fraser credited the health board's work on their accounts during the audited process in an "exceptional year".

Margo McGurk, director of finance and strategy at NHS Fife, said: "We have seen the clear impact of COVID.

"I am pleased the board met all of its key finance targets but we have seen a very significant increase in staffing."

In quarter one of 2021, NHS Fife received £11.6m of COVID funding from the Scottish Government which covered all of the the board's costs.

The Scottish Government is to monitor funding on a quality basis.

Looking at the overall capital budget for NHS Fife for 2021/22, it is anticipated to be £25.319m. The majority of this – £18.1m – relates to the new Elective Orthopaedic Centre and the board is on track to spend the allocation in line with that funding level.

Ms McGurk added: "There have been a number of issues with supplies and the cost of materials which is not just a problem in Scotland but we have put in some mitigation to try and avoid delays.

"Right now, things are on track."