NHS Ayrshire & Arran has been given £13.7million in extra COVID-19 funding from the Scottish Government.

It comes as part of a £380million package allocated to health boards across Scotland. This follows on from the £1.7billion already provided to health boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships last year.

NHS Ayrshire & Arran received £1.9m in November to meet COVID-19 related costs, such as testing facilities and staffing costs.

The additional funding includes ongoing support for the vaccination programme, the Test and Protect system, personal protective equipment for health and care workers, and running asymptomatic testing facilities across the three Ayrshire regions.

It was revealed earlier this year that the health board faced a £22m deficit in its revenue budget for the year ahead after a gruelling year of staff battling Covid.

The health board had found ways to save £9.3m so far during 2021 to 2022 and are believed to be looking at other cuts as the strain from the pandemic continues.

Ayr MSP Siobhian Brown said: “Ayrshire & Arran NHS has been under incredible pressure during the pandemic, not only will this additional funding support the health board with its efforts to treat patients but it will also play a role in supporting our NHS in its remobilisation programme as we come out of the pandemic.

“It is essential that our health services can be on a sure footing as we re-emerge from the pandemic and other services that have been disrupted can restart smoothly”.