NHS Borders makes progress towards savings goal

NHS Borders said it had identified £6m of recurring savings

A health board has outlined its efforts to achieve a break-even budget for the current financial year.

NHS Borders director of finance Carol Gillie said it had now identified £6m of recurring savings.

She told a meeting of the region's integration joint board that was in line with levels needed to break even.

NHS Borders said it was now nearly half way to meeting the £12.7m savings target to reduce its underlying deficit.

Earlier this year the health board defended its spending record after the council had to provide an extra £3.2m towards social care costs.

'Work to do'

It said it was committed to addressing the financial challenges being faced by its services.

NHS Borders received an additional £10m from the Scottish government in 2018/19 to tackle the pressure it was under.

It said it was working on a "longer-term plan" to return to financial balance "as quickly as possible".

The latest update said progress was being made towards that goal.

"We recognise we still have significant work to do and we continue to progress our financial turnaround project to make the required savings whilst also providing high quality, person-centred services to the Borders public," a statement said.