HEALTH bosses in Fareham and Gosport have balanced their books after struggling to reduce a £1.5m deficit over the last year.

The overspend by Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust has been recuperated only in the last few months.

But the trust's director of finance Alan Pickering warned the money that had helped the trust get out of financial trouble this year would not necessarily be available in 12 months' time.

He told a public meeting of the board that it was a positive start to the new financial year.

"We can set out with a reasonably clean sheet of paper."

Some £700,000 has been taken from the trust's reserves. The strategic health authority has also allocated £200,000 to the PCT.

The trust has benefited from a slice of the money - £700,000 - left over from the demise of the health authority and community trusts it replaced last year.

Chairwoman Lucy Docherty said: "It is excellent news that we are going into the new year without an overspend."

Much of the deficit had been blamed on the trust's increased prescription costs as new more expensive drugs come onto the market and patients' expectations increase.

In Fareham six out of the ten GP practices exceeded their prescribing budgets over the last 12 months.

In Gosport all 11 practices spent more than they anticipated - one by as much as 26.15 per cent.

Ian Piper, trust chief executive said one of the priorities over the coming year would be to reduce the overall prescribing costs.

"We are not alone. This is a national problem," he said.

The Department of Health will assess the financial performance when it decides whether to award the PCT any stars in a national league table to be published in the summer.