The NHS has had to turn to the private sector to meet a temporary shortage of resources, according to the Scottish Health Secretary.
Private-sector spending by the NHS reportedly rose 60% in the past year, with NHS Lothian accounting for almost half of the total increase.
Health Secretary Alex Neil said local health planners "grossly under-estimated" the increase in the population of the Lothians in the past decade, when they designed the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (ERI), leaving the current Scottish Government to "pick up the consequences of those mistakes".
Private-sector spending must only be used as a last resort, according to Mr Neil, who said he believed it would be kept to an absolute minimum. He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The Lothians accounts for 43% of this increase and the fundamental problem is undercapacity."
"The new ERI, for example, when it was planned 10 years ago was 20% undercapacity.
"They grossly under-estimated the increase in the population of Lothian and therefore we're left to pick up the consequences of those mistakes. One consequence is that to provide the timeous treatment guarantee we have said we must get – and which 99% of patients in Scotland are now getting – we have had to make some short-term use of the independent sector, which will be a temporary phenomenon."
The Government is spending money on "additional capacity", particularly in NHS Lothian and also in Grampian where spending on private healthcare has reportedly tripled.
Private-sector spending in Grampian will "absolutely" be coming down next year, Mr Neil said.
"I have made it absolutely clear to the chairs and chief executives of the 14 territorial health boards in Scotland that the use of the independent sector can only be a last resort because we have huge capacity in Scotland.
"I believe we are going to keep it to an absolute minimum. We are talking about a half a percent of the entire budget. This is not some kind of huge amount of money.
"I've made it absolutely clear to the 14 territorial boards to minimise the spend because we've got a substantial additional capacity being built in the NHS."
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