The spiralling cost of prescription drugs could hit Angus healthcare budgets by an extra £500,000 this tax year.
NHS Tayside chief executive Lesley McLay will meet Angus Community Health Partnership (CHP) bosses to discuss an area of “considerable risk” to the public purse.
A health board meeting revealed the CHP could be more than £800,000 out of pocket by April.
It had already overspent by more than £500,000 so far this tax year a figure expected to rise to £826,000.
Finance manager Alexander Berry said: “In summary, the reported overspend of £508,000 reflects an overspend on hospital and community health services and a significant overspend on prescribing budgets.
“The overspend continues to be largely attributable to unit prices being in excess of planned levels which in turn is partly due to raw materials shortages having an effect on prices.
“The high-level projection of a year-end overspend of circa £320,000 assumes that the work being undertaken in the CHP will lead to a reduction in monthly overspend in the latter part of the year.
“However, this remains an area of considerable risk for both Angus CHP and NHS Tayside.”
The average cost for each prescription item for NHS Tayside from April to October last year was £10.32 compared to £10.29 in the same period a year earlier.
While it was hoped there would be a cut of £390,000 on prescriptions, an overspend of nearly £320,000 means only about £70,000 of savings will be made.
An NHS Tayside spokeswoman told The Courier: “Raw material shortages are one factor that can influence the cost of prescribed medicines. Often there are only one or two manufacturers of raw materials globally for particular medicines and if one has a supply problem this can lead to short-term fluctuations in price for remaining products to customers worldwide.
“All prescribing costs are routinely scrutinised throughout the year.”