NHS BORDERS has laid bare the financial peril it has fallen into over the past three years - including a growing deficit, delayed savings and government intervention.

NHS Borders board members attended a meeting of the Scottish Borders health and social care integrated joint board (IJB) this week, which is funded as a partnership between the council and the local NHS board, to give an update on their financial situation.

NHS Borders’ chief executive, Ralph Roberts, and the health board’s finance director, Carol Gillie, explained to IJB members that currently the financial plan is unsustainable and savings will need to be made, including efficiency savings and cuts to services.

IJB members heard that since the 2016/17 financial year, NHS Borders has recorded a rapidly increasing deficit, from £1.7m up the £13.8m it stands at today.

Last year, the health board required a bail out from the Scottish Government of £10.3m, and this week it was confirmed it would receive another bail out this year of £9.3m, although this second bail out will need to be paid back.

A condition of receiving the bail out is that NHS Borders must publish a three-year financial plan in September, which will bring them back to sustainability.

The health board has also been placed on level four of the Scottish Government’s performance management ladder, which is just one step away from being placed into special measures.

A presentation from Ms Gillie showed that the health board plans to make £12.7m of cuts over the next 12 months, with £5.2m of savings to be made from Borders General Hospital, £1.3m from mental health services, £5.1m from primary care, £0.8m from corporate, and £0.3m from external providers.

Ms Gillie also told the IJB that the pressures exerted on the finances of NHS Borders come largely from circumstances which are outside of their control, including an extra £4.2m pay increase for staff in 2019/20, £1.7m for new drugs, as well as added inflation for general supplies, totalling £0.8m.

Furthermore, the health boards’ finances have faced additional pressure from a reliance on agency and LOCUM spending on staff, which is forecast to cost an extra £5.7m this year than first envisioned.

NHS Borders’ financial problems have had a knock-on effect on the region’s joint health board, which is funded by Scottish Borders Council and the local NHS board.

The IJB currently has a financial gap of £10.2m, and  last month Scottish Borders Council had to hand over an extra £3.2m to help plug the gap.

NHS Borders has signalled it will pay its share of the funding gap, which is larger as NHS services form a much larger proportion of the IJB than council services, using the brokerage it has now secured from the Scottish Government.

Scottish Borders Council also needs to find £1.6m of savings from its IJB services, of which it as already found £1.3m, while the NHS needs to make £11.8m.