NHS Ayrshire and Arran is likely to end the financial year in a better position than it anticipated after receiving fresh funding from the Scottish Government and the UK Treasury.
Last year, the health board planned for a deficit budget, expecting to spend £56.4m more than it receives.
The unexpected windfall sees the organisation receive £5.6m in sustainability funding from the Scottish government, along with £18.2m for new medicine funding.
The additional cash came with the expectation from the Scottish Government that it would reduce the budget deficit to £50.8m.
Last month NHS Ayrshire and Arran also received a one-off payment of £10.96m from the UK Treasury.
That means the projected deficit will be reduced to £37.7m - of which the majority, £28.7m, is from acute services.
Despite the optimistic forecast, there are still ongoing concerns around the financial impact of unfunded beds, staff and medications which will continue to place pressure on budgets.
A report to the NHS Ayrshire and Arran board explained that overspending has been driven in part by excess unfunded beds being open and the frequent use of agency medical staff.
The annual budget for acute services is £425.3m and was overspent by £28.7m as of February 2024. A total of £9.1m of the annual budget was spent on unfunded beds, 11.3m was overspent on nursing pay and £7.6m overspent on medical pay.
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