SCOTLAND’S health and social care partnerships must stop fighting fires and tackle their ballooning budget deficit currently standing at £0.5 billion, a watchdog has warned.

Integrated Joint Boards (IJB), set up on the integration of social work and primary health care in 2013, have seen deficits grow steadily amid continuing austerity and soaring demand.

The problem appears to be worsening however, as the latest Accounts Commission report showed the spending gap rise by 28 per cent between 2022/23 and 2023/24 — soaring from £357 million to £457m.

In that time, 24 of the 30 IJBs were in deficit, with 11 having to be bailed out by councils or NHS boards, and 16 forced to raid reserves, depleting them by 49 per cent.

Malcolm Bell, member of the Accounts Commission, said: “For too long, integration joint boards have been firefighting immediate financial challenges.

“They must shift from making one-off savings and relying on reserves to transform how services are delivered if they are to tackle their precarious finances.”

Calling for collaboration to meet the scale of the challenge, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities health and social care spokesperson, Cllr Paul Kelly, warned: “With Scotland’s population aged 75 and over expected to rise to 774,000 by 2045, it is vital that we invest in prevention and early intervention in social care with this future in mind.”

Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP must heed the warnings in this report before the crisis in health and social care spirals even further out of control. 

“This perfect storm of funding pressures, staffing shortages and growing demand has left services at breaking point.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We have invested a record £21.7bn in health and social care in 2025-26, which includes almost £2.2bn for social care and integration.”