Health / IJB to exceed annual savings target
AN ANNUAL savings target set by Shetland’s integration joint board (IJB) is set to be exceeded come the end of the financial year.
A report presented to a meeting of the IJB audit committee on Thursday showed that total savings of £1.527 million are expected by the end of March, compared to a target of £610,000.
The IJB brings together Shetland Islands Council and NHS Shetland and has oversight of health and social care services.
Chief financial officer Karl Williamson said the savings can mainly be attributed to work in pharmacy, as well as vacancies.
He described exceeding the savings target as a “great achievement” but warned there are still longer term issues at play, and noted they are mainly non-recurrent.
Meanwhile the current projected year-end position for IJB commissioned services is an overspend of £2.765 million, or four per cent.
This overspend is largely driven by the continued reliance on expensive temporary staff.
Williamson also confirmed the SIC and NHS Shetland will again provide top-up payments to balance the IJB books at the end of the financial year – “good news”, Williamson said, as there previously had been uncertainty over Scottish Government ‘brokerage’ funding would have been needed.
“It’s good news in the short term but we still have that underlying challenge that we’re all aware of,” he said.
The projected overspend for 2024/25 is split between £2.455 million on the NHS Shetland side of things, and £310,000 on the SIC arm.
The NHS overspend consists of nearly £1.3 million against directly managed services and £1.175 million on hospital services.
The SIC overspend is across adult services and community care resources.
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