NHS Fife overspent its annual budget by £10.9 million just four months into the current financial year.
The unenviable position comes despite a pledge in April to make £15m of savings this year.
And it was accompanied by a warning of difficult conversations ahead as the board moves to claw back the money.
Finance director Margo McGurk said the NHS Fife overspend is “significantly beyond where we would have hoped to be.”
Reasons include the cost of supplementary staffing, medicines, and surge capacity – the NHS’ ability to handle patient/care influx.
Other factors include legacy Covid costs and cost of living increases across the board.
And Ms McGurk said no further money was expected from the Scottish Government to tackle the growing overspend.
Confidence is decreasing
NHS Fife implemented a £15m cost-saving programme at the start of the financial year.
However, it has taken longer than anticipated to get off the ground.
Ms McGurk said: “It’s fair to say the level of confidence is decreasing as we go through the year.
“But having said that, we do believe that over the next few months we should see something coming through by way of [cost savings].
“The changes we made and the improvements and additional controls that were put in place really only took effect from June 1, so we’ve really only had a couple of months data coming through.”
She continued: “We do have to find a way to deliver that £15 million savings.
“Everyone is focused on delivering the cost reduction where it’s safe to do so.”
Difficult conversations about NHS Fife overspend
Acting board chair Alistair Morris said it was “absolutely critical” the board got on top of matters.
“I’m still firmly of the view that we will be held to account for the delivery of the annual delivery plan,” he said.
“That is going to force us into having some difficult conversations.
“But I’m confident that the culture of the board will help stand us in good stead when we address those issues.
“It’s not a happy position to be in. But we’ve got to be realistic about what the task ahead is and roll our sleeves up to deliver that.
“We’re getting towards half way through the year which means we’ve only got six months to claw back. That’s quite an uphill task.”
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