SOUTHAMPTON'S public hospitals could be heading for financial trouble, a report from the NHS trust's finance director warns.
The report shows that in the past four years the financial position of the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust has gone from strength to strength.
The trust looks after the Southampton General, Princess Anne and Royal South Hants.
Its annual accounts, to be presented to the trust board today, show a small surplus of £24,000 over the last financial year and more than £20m in building works.
Finance director Alan Butler says in the report: "The trust ended the year very successfully, achieving its waiting-list target and all of its financial duties."
But he warned: "Achieving long-term financial balance will be very difficult to attain.
"The level of cost pressures in the NHS continues to exceed available income, forcing the trust to impose major cost-improvement targets to reduce the gap."
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