DORSET County Hospital has confirmed it is planning for a deficit of £3.5million in the current year as the scale of the financial crisis facing NHS hospitals nationally is revealed.
Figures show NHS trusts in England racked up a deficit approaching £1 billion in the first three months of the financial year.
The statistics for April to June showed NHS foundation trusts had a deficit of £445 million, while other NHS trusts ended the first quarter of the year £485 million in deficit.
In Dorset, the Clinical Commissioning Group's Clinical Services Review is intended over the next few years to reduce the cost of healthcare provision, which otherwise is expected to lead to a county-wide funding shortfall of more than £200 million by 2021.
A spokesman for Dorset County Hospital said the hospital had planned a deficit of £3.5million for the financial year 2015/16.
They added: "We are working hard to identify further savings but we are not prepared to compromise on the quality of services for our patients.
"We will continue to strive to work as efficiently as possible while still providing the full range of district general hospital services for our patients."
The hospital added that there were no plans to cut any jobs as a result of the predicted deficit.
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