Health chiefs spend £4m over budget

NHS Lothian has overspent its budget for the first three-quarters of the financial year by £4 million, it has emerged.

Preparations for swine flu are among the reasons for the health board running into the red, bosses said.

However, there is some confidence that the position can be recovered before the books close for the year at the end of the month.

It was pointed out that this time last year there was an overspend of 2.5m and NHS Lothian was able to turn that into a 500,000 profit before the end of last financial year.

Prescribing is another cause of the rise, and health chiefs have often pointed out that they receive significantly less per head of population than so-called poorer health boards in the west of Scotland.

Director of finance Susan Goldsmith said she was still confident the budgets could be met.

"While the forecast remains a break-even position, this will require a number of immediate remedial actions," she said.