DORSET County Hospital is £4.6m in debt, governors were told at a meeting – but hospital bosses say they will be able to pay it back.

Deputy director of finance Rebecca King quoted the figure at a council of governors meeting at Dorset County Hospital in response to a direct question by governor Derek Julian.

She said: “We do have a large loan we took out a few years ago as part of the recovery, which is £4.6m.”

Chairing the meeting, chairman of Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust Dr Jeffrey Ellwood said: “It does have a very low interest rate and we can afford to pay it back.”

It comes as DCH is being put under further pressure by the government to find an additional £4.5m in savings.

The figure is lower than the £6m previously expected and represents three per cent of the hospital’s annual turnover, as opposed to the nationally expected level of four per cent.

A report presented to governors states: “The Trust has plans in place to deliver £4.1m of the £4.5m savings by the end of the financial year, meaning £400,000 is yet to be identified.”

Dr Ellwood told governors that savings were being made by not spending money, rather than making cuts.

He said: “It’s a case of us being asked not to spend money rather than spend money. We still receive around £150m year on year but in that we need to find additional costs.

“We are doing a very good job.”

Dr Ellwood urged governors to remember that DCH is in a strong financial position compared to other hospital trusts across the country, but pledged that the hospital board ‘will not get complacent’.

He added: “We are not going to jeopardise quality and safety at Dorset County Hospital.

“Our job is to run a safe, efficient, high quality hospital, which we are doing.

“We are just about in surplus but we have the worst months to come. The winter period is the most uncertain in the NHS. We have got provisions but we do not know whether these will be sufficient.”