NHS Dumfries and Galloway is facing a £35.9 million hole in its budget this year.
And that comes after a £9.3 million injection was needed to ensure the health board balanced its books last
year.
The picture was outlined at Monday’s meeting of NHS Dumfries and Galloway.
A report by finance boss Katy Kerr told members that the three year financial plan “continues to show a significantly worsening position”.
Currently, the board is on target to run at a loss of £35.9 million in 2023/24 – rising to £50.3 million in 2025/26.
Ms Kerr told the meeting there are “ongoing discussions” with the Scottish Government, which will be providing tailored support, but “whilst their ambition is we get within a balanced position within that three year period we set out quite clearly that is
unachievable”.
The report said there are four “key areas” of the financial plan under focus – inflationary pressures, recurring savings, non-recurring savings and a cost containment review.
Ms Kerr added: “We need to be really challenging ourselves on all of those savings areas.”
The financial plan included a recurring savings target of £6 million and a non-recurring savings target of £4.7 million in each of the next three years.
The deficit for 2022/23 had been set at £20 million when the financial year began. By the end of the third quarter this was down to £16 million and dropped to £9.3 million by the end of the year.
Ms Kerr said this was down to a number of factors, including unexpected additional funding allocations from the Scottish Government that weren’t expected and lower overspends than expected.
The report warned that “the approved three year financial plan does not include any repayment at this time” and if the situation doesn’t improve, “further brokerage of £35.9 million” will be needed to ensure the health board breaks even in 2023/24.
