THE director of finance at Dorset County Hospital has delivered a positive end of year report.

Bill Boa told a meeting of the hospital’s governors that the Foundation Trust ended the year with a deficit of £3.3million, compared to a predicted deficit of £3.5million.

He also said the hospital’s cashflow situation was improving and it was on track to make a £2million surplus next year.

Mr Boa said: “In this barren wasteland of deficit there is some comfort in that we have done better than we thought.

“We are still aiming for a £2million surplus next year but we are not underestimating the difficulties that we will face.”

Mr Boa said that last month the Trust traded on its own cash balances, without any advances, for the first time ‘in a number of years’.

He said the hospital had also received a £5.3million loan from the Department of Health.

Mr Boa said one ‘disappointing’ aspect in his latest financial update was the high expenditure on agency staff in March. He said: “We did not manage our annual leave well and let it stack up towards the end of the year. So we covered some of the annual leave with agency staff.”