Audit Scotland said the revised strategy set out by health secretary, Neil Gray, in June was ‘not clear' on how the challenges facing the NHS would be met.
Stephen Boyle, auditor general for Scotland, said: ‘To safeguard the NHS, a fundamental change in how services are provided remains urgent. The Scottish Government needs to set out clearly to the public and the health service how it will deliver reform, including how progress will be measured and monitored.
‘Difficult decisions are needed about making services more efficient or, potentially, withdrawing those services with more limited clinical value to allow funding to be re-directed. Taking those steps will require greater leadership from Scottish Government and NHS leaders than we've seen to date.'
The Scottish watchdog said the Government needed a delivery plan that explained how it will reform the NHS and address pressure on services, citing data showing that fewer patients were being seen than before the pandemic.
Health secretary Neil Gray said: ‘We know people are waiting too long for treatment but remain determined to reduce waiting times. Significant activity is underway through our £30m investment to target pandemic backlogs. This will see around 12,000 additional new outpatient appointments, around 12,000 additional inpatient/day-case procedures and over 40,000 diagnostic procedures delivered.
‘I am encouraged to see in the annual Scottish Household Survey, published today, an increase in satisfaction levels in local health services. The overwhelming majority reported being treated with dignity and respect when accessing those services - we are determined to do more.
‘This year we are providing more than £19.5bn for health and social care and under this Government funding for the NHS has increased in real terms by 30%.
‘But we are determined to continue to improve our NHS and the Budget we set out tomorrow will throw the weight of the Government behind performance improvements and ensure we can tackle the challenges in our health service.'
