Health and social care services in Dundee are facing a budget shortfall of more than £10m in the upcoming financial year.
A committee meeting for the Integration Joint Board (IJB) held on Wednesday revealed the city’s health and social care partnership is also projecting an overspend of £4.78m.
The figures, board members were warned, represent the biggest budget gap the partnership has ever faced.
The service will set next year’s budget at the end of March.
Speaking at the meeting, chief finance officer Dave Berry said: “We are around about a £10.7m gap for the IJB, which is the biggest gap we have faced since the inception of the IJB itself.
“So there is quite a challenge ahead of us to try balance off the budget for next year.
“With the gap of £10.7m, we will also be presenting a range of actions and interventions and savings to balance off the budget.”
£4.78m overspend
The service is also looking at an operational overspend of £4.78m for the year, however it’s anticipated the group’s reserves will be able to sustain the organisation.
This is a reduction to the initial £6.6m overspend previously projected.
It had been hoped the multi-million gap for the year would be sitting at the £3m mark, with equal reserves earmarked to compensate for this eventuality.
A further £1m was also set aside for winter pressure but together this still leaves a £780,000 gap unaccounted for.
If this is not successfully reduced, it will be met by further reserves.
The committee also heard that reliance on agency staff continues to be an issue.
Christine Jones, partnership finance manager added: “Many of the reasons (for the overspending) remain the same in terms of recruitment and retention challenges, reliance on supplementary staff, and significant demand on the care at home packages.
“So many of these reasons are still there.”
