NHS Highland surpassed its targeted level of savings for the last financial year, the health authority revealed yesterday.
The update was delivered as the organisation’s board met yesterday, with some members video calling into Assynt House.
Finance director, Dave Garden, said the health authority surpassed its target set by the Scottish Government as part of its three-year financial recovery plan – trimming £500,000 from its anticipated overspend.
The board’s total overspend is £10.9 million with an application approved yesterday to approach the Scottish Government for £11m of financial brokerage in order to meet its target.
Mr Garden said the savings made have been “phenomenal”.
He said: “We had a £28 million savings target at the start of the year and we have fully met that. We have managed to make that with 59% of the savings recurrent.
“In September we recognised there was a number of cost measures emerging that were intentionally going to blow us off target and we took further actions to identify £7 million of other ways of bridging that gap.”
NHS Highland has determined its budget for the 2020/2021 period, which is year three of the financial recovery plan, where it is anticipated to require approximately £8.8million from the Scottish Government in order to break even.
It comes after an overspend of £18 million in 2018/19.
This year’s budget will be reassessed over the course of the year due to any potential implications from the current coronavirus pandemic.
