EVERY vote cast in two of Scotland's controversial health board elections cost the taxpayer almost £12 with the cost of rolling the experiment out across the country now put at £12 million.
The experiment, which was the brainchild of former health secretary Nicola Sturgeon before she took charge of the independence campaign, aimed to give the public a louder voice in the way hospitals and health centres are run.
But new figures show the enormous cost of the operation after just 39,761 people, or 14% of the population, in Fife cast their votes at a total cost of £473,856 (£11.90 a vote).
Ms Sturgeon's successor Alex Neil is now deciding on the next step as the Government digests the huge costs of mounting a Scotland-wide vote.
But Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the trial was disappointing as it had done nothing to improve the accountability of health boards.
She said: "The election trial was extremely disappointing with a poor voter turnout and no real improvement in accountability of health boards.
"Yet, despite this, the SNP wish to press ahead, wasting £12m on elections which few understand and even fewer will participate in, rather than investing in frontline patient care.
"There is no evidence the trials have led to better management, more efficient services, or better patient care. In a time when there are cuts to the health budget, it seems the SNP have the wrong priorities in pushing this agenda."
In Dumfries and Galloway, the turnout was higher at 22.6%, but the 26,516 votes cost £299,406 to administer, around £11.30.
The poll was important in the run up to the independence referendum next year because it gave those aged 16 and 17 the vote for the first time in a UK poll. The age group could also stand as candidates, but even before it had taken place there was criticism over the costs from health boards, staff unions and even consumer groups.
Dr Charles Saunders, deputy chairman of the BMA in Scotland said an analysis had shown that less costly pilot elections in Grampian and Lothian had produced similar results in terms of numbers of votes cast.
He insisted: "At a time when clinical staff and health services are feeling the pressure of the financial cuts to the NHS, it is more important to invest in frontline services rather than elections which have a poor turnout and don't deliver any significant difference to far cheaper alternatives."
He added: "Elected members tell us they feel their role is to effectively rubber stamp decisions made by the executive members of the board, rather than to proactively involve themselves in the decision making process.
"It is doubtful that, as a result of these elections, the average person in Fife or Dumfries and Galloway feels there is greater transparency about the decisions made regarding healthcare services in their local communities. It is our view improved engagement is best done at the most local level."
Mr Neil confirmed it would cost around £12m to extend the pilot to the rest of the country and said: "The Scottish Government will take this information in to account as it considers the independent evaluation on health board elections and alternative pilots."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article