Big financial gap still for region's health and social care

A SIGNIFICANT financial gap of £25.7 million is being faced by health and social care in Dumfries and Galloway.

However, health chiefs insist their work is making progress in bringing down the overspend.

The mid-year financial update which was brought to last week's Dumfries and Galloway Integration Joint Board today.

It control had been strengthened and expenditure reduced, but noted that further difficult decisions are needed.

Interim chief finance officer Sean Barrett said: “We should absolutely acknowledge the hard work undertaken to date to strengthen financial control, but also recognise that the in-year gap remains very significant.

“The pressures on both NHS and council-delegated budgets mean we will need to continue our efforts as we move into the second half of the year and begin planning for 2026/27.”

The combined overspend is made up of a £17 million gap within NHS-delegated services - supported non-recurringly by Scottish Government - and £8.7 million across council-delegated social work, where no national support is expected. Both figures represent improvements from earlier projections.

However, some pressures have eased. Agency spending is £1.7 million lower than this time last year, and prescribing cost growth has stabilised.

But even with these gains, the NHS budget still requires £11.1 million in recurring savings and £7.2 million in non-recurring measures to remain on course.

In terms of adult social care, the projected overspend has fallen significantly from £12.5 million to £8.7 million - driven by tighter control of care package costs and improvements across older adults, learning disability, mental health and physical disability services.

Despite the reduced forecast, the level of savings achieved remains below what is needed to restore financial balance.

All non-ring-fenced reserves are expected to be fully utilised by the end of the financial year, leaving only the £300,000 Community Living Change Fund untouched.

Mr Barrett said work is now accelerating across prevention, care redesign, patient flow and whole-system planning for next year. He said: “Progress has been made in reducing some pressures, but the overall position remains extremely difficult."