2 days ago
NHS Dumfries and Galloway predicts budget burst of £28 million in 2025/26 financial year
The overspend is down from the £33.6 million previously expected and includes £21.7 million of cuts.
The financial picture of Dumfries and Galloway's healthboard is improving ... but not enough to win approval from the Scottish Government.
A report for Monday's board meeting of NHS Dumfries and Galloway revealed an overspend of £28 million is expected in the current financial year.
That's down from the £33.6 million prediction at the last meeting.
However, the Scottish Government has set a target of a £25 million overspend.
Finance boss Katy Kerr's report states the previous draft plan, submitted at the end of March, was not approved.
And while 'additional Scottish Government funding' and 'local improvements' have led to the expected overspend being brought down, it still does not meet the requirements of Scottish Ministers.
The previous meeting was told that, as things stood, NHS Dumfries and Galloway was due to overspend by £95 million over the next three years.
That position has been improved, with the budget burst now expected to be around £87.5 million.
That includes £66.7 million worth of savings over the same period.
Ms Kerr reported that more than 50 savings schemes worth around £15 million have been found for the current financial year.
The savings target is £21.6 million – more than the record £20.1 million the health board saved last year.
Members approved the financial recovery plan on Monday and chief executive, Julie White, said: 'This past year's savings have been hard-won, delivered through changes to financial controls, service reviews and transformation which have impacted the way we work right across oursystem.
'But we're now in a position where we have to go further, and faster.
'The next phase of recovery will be even more difficult, and it will require difficult decisions.
'To deliver the level of savings required, we will have to become more efficient and consider further changes to the way in which we deliverservices.
'We will, however, continue to focus on delivering improvements to our performance, particularly our waiting times for planned and unscheduled care.
'We've shown this year that progress is possible. But we need to be honest about what comes next.
'Recovery at this scale means changing how we deliver care.
'Our focus will be on protecting what matters most — that is the delivery of front line core NHS services to the highest possible standards within our available resources, but we need to be clear this requires us to modernise our provision through areas such as a greater use of technology and digital innovation.'
