Savings of up to £14m will mean ‘very difficult decisions’ for the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership, it was announced this week.
Forecasts have improved slightly following conformation of the amount to be received from the Scottish Government, NHS Highland and Argyll and Bute Council.
But the partnership says it will still have to deliver additional savings of between £5m and £6m – on top of the spending reduction already planned in 2018-19, bringing the total to £14m.
Chief financial officer Caroline Whyte said: ““While this improvement to the financial position is clearly welcomed the fact remains that we still have a very large budget gap and we will require to identify and deliver new savings as well as continuing to meet increasing demand for health and social care services and rising costs due to inflation.
“Services are in the process of developing the service change proposals to be added to the plan to address the budget gap, however it is clear at this stage that some of those proposed service changes will not be in line with our strategic plan objectives.
“These will potentially pose very difficult decisions to make with conflicting priorities in relation to maintaining quality of care, meeting treatment and waiting time performance standards and ensuring a balanced budget.
“The pace of change will cause some anxiety and concerns for our staff and local communities but we will continue to do more to explain why we need to make these changes happen.”
The integrated joint board will consider the full financial situation at its meeting at the end of this month.
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