THE cost of meeting referral to treatment waiting times in Gwent is a “major concern” for the area’s health board, which is almost £6.5 million overspent for the first quarter of 2016/17.

That appraisal of the cost is made in a financial report for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, that goes on to describe the increase in variable pay costs arising from trying to meet waiting times targets as “not a sustainable solution.”

The health board has already predicted a £19.1m deficit for 2016/17, but it is predicted that the figure could rise to more than £25m by the end of next March unless the situation is addressed.

The health board’s scheduled care division, which is responsible for routine, or planned, treatments is the main contributor to the overspend, being £5.1m over budget after the first quarter.

The health board is working on eliminating backlogs for treatment across a range of specialties, and this involves initiatives such as weekend operating sessions.

As well as being expensive in terms of staff overtime, there is an issue - and not confined to the treatment waiting times issue - with medical staffing. There are not enough doctors.

Health board spending on medical locum doctors and agency medical staff was almost £2.75m during April-June, up by £1.1m (65 per cent) on the same period last year.

Finance director Alan Brace acknowledged that his “biggest concerns” in terms of overspend are scheduled care and also urgent care, which was almost £2.9m above budget by the end of June.

Medical director Dr Paul Buss said it had been a “significant” rise in the cost of locum and agency doctors, and the health board was “taken aback by the scale of it.”

A general shortage of doctors is a big contributing factor, and Dr Buss warned that the health board, and the NHS across Wales, would also in future see pressure on doctor training numbers.

“We need to be ahead of the game and be planning what our configuration of services will be,” he said.