NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s financial deficit will more than double to £56 million over the coming year, a report has revealed.

Pay deals, medicines and even the cost of paper towels have put significant pressure on the health service’s budget.

But just £9m in cuts and savings have been identified ahead of the budget meeting on Tuesday.

However, little detail has been revealed of where cuts in services could be made.

Funding from Scottish Government increased from £833m last year to £850m in 2023/24.

The service has already spent £26m more than it brought in during 2022/23.

n a report to members of the Ayrshire and Arran health board this week, NHS Ayrshire and Arran finance chief Derek Lindsay said that it would now have to find £33m simply to avoid worsening the existing deficit.

The main financial pressures include £11.89m in pay related pressures; £12.495m in additional primary care prescribing; £4.85m in acute prescribing; £5.7m in non-clinical pressures; and £6.2m in ‘unavoidable’ clinical cost pressures.

The service also faces having to pay out £6.1m on 165 unfunded hospital beds put in place as a response to Covid, although it aims to close the majority of these by June.

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