Health board's financial position worse than forecast

Ralph Roberts said the financial situation was "extremely challenging"

A health board has warned it will face "difficult decisions" after it emerged its financial position was worse than previously anticipated.

NHS Borders has reported an overspend of nearly £12m in the first 10 months of this financial year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

If spending continues at the same level it is looking at an end of financial year deficit of £14.4m – higher than the £12.2m deficit agreed with the Scottish government.

It means the board will have to put together a financial recovery plan to tackle the situation.

Last year a trade union wrote to every politician representing the Borders to highlight "dangerous staffing levels" in local hospitals.

Ralph Roberts, the chief executive at NHS Borders, will be attending a meeting of the Scottish Parliament's health and sport committee on 21 March to discuss the financial situation.

The health board has regularly warned of "exceptional pressures"

He admitted the health board faced "exceptional pressures" to balance the books and that "difficult decisions" on service provision lay ahead.

"Our financial position remains extremely challenging with a significant gap between our ongoing expenditure and funding," he said.

"There is work going on across the organisation to identify and deliver savings so that we can meet the agreed position with the Scottish government at the end of the financial year.

“As we continue to face exceptional pressures, with significant service, workforce and financial challenges, it is important that we have clear plans in place to make progress towards our future savings targets."

He said work was ongoing to ensure they had "good control" of spending as well as "maximising the effectiveness and efficiency" of all services.

"Recognising the increasing pressure on the NHS and the changing demographics of our population I am very clear that over the coming years we will need to make some difficult decisions in relation to the services we provide," he warned.

"We are committed to doing this in partnership with our staff, partners, communities and people who use our services."