HEALTH chiefs are facing a £1m setback in their efforts to balance the books.

Hospital bosses set themselves a target of saving £13m from this year's budget and were hoping to achieve it through cutbacks, savings and selling land including the Mount Hospital at Bishopstoke.

The sale of the Mount site now looks unlikely to be completed by the end of the financial year, members of Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust were told.

It will leave the trust with a deficit of at least £1m, instead of breaking even as was initially hoped, and it will have to make up the shortfall without its financial chief.

Director of finance Ross Dunworth, who leaves the trust on March 31 for another job, said he wanted to make sure the board was aware of the financial situation they were facing.

He told members: "It's unlikely the sale will go through. We are probably looking at a £1m deficit, if not more."

He added that he considered himself the only person with the expertise to oversee the sale and warned board members they faced a tough task in finding ways to save money.

"Our recovery plan for this year has been about the next two years not just the here and now," he said. "This will mean more savings are required to make up the shortfall."

Health chiefs said they knew selling the Mount site to Hampshire County Council would be difficult because of "the complexity of the transaction".

A spokesman for the trust said: "Given that the trust is striving to break even by the end of March, every effort is being made to secure the sale of the site.

"Following the resignation of the director of finance at the beginning of the year, the trust is securing the necessary expertise to complete the sale as soon as possible."

Chairman Barbara North said: "It remains very much a priority that the trust has to achieve financial balance."