HSCP in £1.7m overspend

The North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), which provides community-based health and social care services on Arran and across North Ayrshire, is expected to overspend by £1.7 million this year.

This is in addition to the £5.8 million it already owes North Ayrshire Council, according to a budget update report presented to the North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board.

The partnership includes NHS Ayrshire and Arran, North Ayrshire Council, third sector organisations and independent care organisations.

The projected overspend will follow a pattern of overspending for three years in a row – which has been blamed on demand for services.

Partnership director Stephen Brown said the overspend was caused by ‘demand for services outweighing the available resources’ and pointed to care home placements, respite provision, looked-after children, learning disability care packages and mental health services as examples.

He reported: ‘Significant changes need to be delivered through the integration of health and social care services, and this needs to work alongside significant constraints on financial resources.

‘The partnership faces challenges to deliver more services to more people and the available funding is not keeping pace with the cost of service delivery.’

The Scottish Government plugs gaps if NHS Ayrshire and Arran overspends but that does not apply to the partnership.

The budget update report stated: ‘Financial balance has not been delivered in previous years and in the new financial year there is a projected overspend position.’

The North Ayrshire HSCP was allocated a budget of £230 million for the financial year.