Overspends and underspends on the table at the Western Isles Integrated Joint Board
At its February meeting, the Western Isles Integrated Joint Board (IJB) issued a budget update, setting out an initial funding gap of £6.664m against the £78.717m required to deliver delegated and set aside functions.
The IJB says that reserves of £1.948m have been assigned to the Goathill Complex in Stornoway over the next three years, which taken together with other savings such as a £500k reduction in spend associated with vacancies and unfilled posts, will allow them to more than halve the budget gap from £6.664m to £3.019m.
Across services, vacant posts are being covered by costly agency and locum staff, adding to overspends across social care and medical services, including £546k over budget on medical consultants and specialist doctors, £534k overspend as a result of using locum doctors to staff the out of hours GP service, and a further £253k projected overspend at the Uist and Barra Hospital, as a result of using agency and bank staff to cover vacancies and sickness absences.
In psychiatric services, the IJB is carrying a predicted overspend of £710k, as a result of using agency staff for both the day and out-of-hours rota. The Board says that the costs of this approach are ‘crippling, with rates of pay upwards of £140 per hour plus VAT’. The situation is not sustainable, the Board says, and it is looking at ways of reducing costs and will consider whether consultants are required for 24/7 cover.
At the same time, the IJB is reporting an initial £1.266m underspend, which has only be brought down to £392k under budget as a result of agency staffing costs of £874k.
The IJB says it has introduced new measures such as enhanced mileage rates, a retention premium and a grading review with the aim of recruiting local staff in home care.
The IJB received £46,907k from NHS Western Isles, and a further £72,053k from the Comhairle and is charged with delivering a range of health and social care services on behalf of the two bodies.
