HEALTH bosses have admitted their end of year financial deficit is £5.6m - and their latest financial plan will not allow them to break even for the coming year.

Earlier this year the Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Clinical Commissioning Group announced a predicted deficit for the financial year ending March 31, 2018.

It prompted NHS England to request a review, which was undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers in February.

PwC found the CCG financial year 2018 plan included £1.8m of unidentified 'QIPP' programmes aiming to deliver better care on a tighter budget, which PwC considered "extremely challenging to achieve" and added: "The risk was acknowledged by the governing body, that still approved the plan."

The report stated: "The CCG has planned for a £4m in year deficit for 2019. To achieve its break-even control total, the CCG would require QIPP of £10.1m, which in our view is not deliverable. There is an urgent need to identify a longer term solution to financial leadership within the CCG."

Janet Probert, chief officer of the CCG, said: “We’re sharing the report and our action plan publicly because we want to be honest and open with our local population about our current position.

“Having recently received the report, we’re pleased that it gave really positive acknowledgements including a complimentary review of our clinical and public engagement stating that our culture is 'very focused on local engagement and the needs of the local population that it serves'. It also highlighted the informal but effective culture of our organisation.

“While the report recognises our challenging financial position, it noted the positive planning for this year demonstrating that we’re making every effort to spend our finite resources as efficiently as possible. It also acknowledges that there is still more work for us to do in order to achieve the financial savings plan and we are fully on board with this."

The CCG governing body will meet to formally discuss the report at a meeting on Thursday, May 24 in Whitby.

The full report along with an action plan is available at www.hambletonrichmondshireandwhitbyccg.nhs.uk/governing-body-meetings.