Exclusive: Health chiefs have expressed their concerns as it emerged Ipswich Hospital’s finances are £2.3million in the red, two months into the financial year.

But the board of directors yesterday vowed to get the trust’s finances back on track by the end of the year.

Hospital chief executive Nick Hulme, told a meeting of the board: “Not breaking even and creating a surplus this year is not an option for this organisation.”

In April the trust reported a deficit of £1.5m. That number grew to £2.3m by the end of May.

But the hospital’s new finance director said he is confident of regaining control of the finances.

Paul Scott, who attended his first board meeting yesterday, admitted the trust has faced a “difficult start to the year financially”.

“We have recorded a deficit in the last two months,” he said. “Month two’s (May) deficit was improved on Month one (April).

“At the moment we believe it is recoverable, there is plenty of time to get our position back in order.

“We continue to forecast a break even position for the year.

“A number of actions are being brought in to help us understand what has happened.

“We should see a small improvement for June but we will have a much clearer idea of our position by month four (July).”

He warned there are important implications of not breaking even, with regards to the hospital’s bid for Foundation Trust status. To reach the gold standard and become financially independent the hospital must prove it can operate in budget and create a surplus.

Non-executive director Alan Bateman, who chaired yesterday’s meeting, added: “The finances give us some quite serious cause for concern.

“It is disappointing, we put a lot of pressure on the finance team to make sure we were in a better position this year than last but we find ourselves in exactly the same position as last year.”

A hospital spokeswoman added: “We provide great care but it is too expensive and we need to take that money out without damaging the quality of care.

“The senior leaders in the organisation are meeting with Paul Scott, finance director and the director of operations and transformational change, Margaret Beckett to understand what the figures mean and how we can put it right.

“Our activity levels aren’t as high as we forecast they would be and so we have not been paid for that work because we haven’t carried it out.”