The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
NHS Tayside heading towards nearly £19 million deficit
Board must identify £58.4m of savings to balance the books
NHS Tayside is in danger of plunging nearly £19 million into the red this year as it struggles to find efficiency savings.
The beleaguered health board, which is being propped up by emergency loans from the Government, must find an unprecedented £58.4m of savings to balance the books for 2016/17.
But bosses have admitted that there is a “high” risk they could be millions of pounds further away from achieving that than previously feared.
Tayside has forecast an £11.6m deficit for this year because it has only identified £46.75m of savings.
Documents have revealed as much as £7m of that total could be at risk, potentially pushing the deficit up to £18.6m.
Jenny Marra, Labour’s Dundee-based MSP, said the board papers show there is a “severe risk” that the deficit will be worse than predicted by Audit Scotland.
She said she would speak to NHS bosses to “find out why this situation has been allowed to escalate and what can be done to make sure services and jobs are not at risk”.
Health chiefs at Tayside will be grilled by MSPs at a special Dundee meeting of the public audit committee next week.
Key factors behind Tayside’s deficit include reliance on expensive agency staff, high spending surrounding prescriptions and bed-blocking.
To compound matters, NHS Tayside owes the Scottish Government about £20m.
A spokeswoman said they would not be drawn on inferences in the board papers that up to £7m of the savings they have identified are in jeopardy.
Lindsay Bedford, NHS Tayside’s finance director, said “work continues to further reduce” the £11.65m of savings that still need to be found.
She said there is a “specific focus” on prescribing costs, non-contract agency spend and delayed discharges.
“I would like to reassure people in Tayside that delivering person-centred and safe health services is our priority,” she added.
“Our dedicated staff in our hospitals and in our communities provide high-quality care and treatment to all our patients and their families and they will continue to do so as NHS Tayside addresses the challenges facing the NHS across Scotland.”