HEALTH services are facing a multi-million pound deficit.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust had a deficit of £7.7m at the end of August.

This is an overall shortfall of £4.3m against its plan.

But despite being in a “vulnerable” position, there was also some optimism about the budget among hospital directors.

Finance and investment committee chair Alan Stuttard told the board that NHS Improvement is looking at Bolton “quite closely” in a way it has not done with health trusts that do not have a “deficit plan” in place.

He said: “They clearly are focusing on this sense that we are adrift from plan. In one sense that’s a positive from NHSI. They are hopefully looking at it as they don’t want us to get into that position, particularly looking forward. There’s a lot of work going on into actually addressing the deficit.”

READ MORE: Waiting lists for health services will continue to grow, hospital bosses warn

There is a collective deficit of around £49m in all NHS trusts across Greater Manchester.