The cost of running the NHS in Scotland increased to more than £10 billion last year, new figures have revealed.
Official statistics showed that health service operating costs increased by 2.2% from the 2010-11 total of £9.8 billion.
The increase means that the equivalent of £1,908 per person was spent on the NHS in Scotland in 2011-12.
Health Secretary Alex Neil said the increase in cost was less than the rate of inflation.
He said: "Despite a difficult economic climate, we know how important it is that we continue to invest in our NHS - that is why we have protected health spending so we can continue to deliver a first-class service to patients across the country.
"These figures show that operating costs for the health service have increased by 2.2% to just over £10 billion in 2011/12, which is below the UK inflation rate of 2.5%. This is in a backdrop of all territorial health boards seeing an overall increase of 3.3% in 2013-14 in their budgets - and a real terms increase of 0.8%.
"This shows that health boards across Scotland are operating more efficiently while reinvesting the money saved in frontline care to improve services for our patients."
Spending on hospitals amounted to £5.6 billion, with community health adding a further £1.6 billion to the costs. Family health services cost £2.4 billion, while a further £300,000 was spent in other areas.
For hospitals, the greatest cost was staffing, which amounted to £3.75 billion, while cleaning costs rose by 0.3% to £117 million. Catering costs also increased, going up by 0.2% to £81 million.
The average cost of treating someone needing in-patient surgery was £3,138 while attendance at an outpatient clinic cost £120 on average. Meanwhile, the cost per attendance at accident and emergency increased by 3.7% to £104.
