A NORTH health trust is facing a £1m budget overspend this year on prescriptions.
Overall, Darlington NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) is underspending, but predictions discussed in its monthly meeting yesterday show a massive overspend of £1m.
Chief executive Colin Morris said the underspend in other areas of the trust's budget would help bring the overall figure down to below £500,000. But he said the overspend could not be balanced by the end of the year.
"It does look bleak," he said. "It is prescriptions which are causing it. But doctors are not prescribing drugs where they are not needed. It is all good prescriptions - there is just more demand for drugs to prevent illness, such as chronic heart disease."
He said 58 out of the region's 86 PCTs were spending too much on prescriptions.
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