NHS and council bosses are at loggerheads over who should cover a £3.3million debt.

South Ayrshire Councillors want NHS Ayrshire & Arran to share the cost with the council but health board chair Martin Cheyne pointed out the overspend took place within the council.

Services have plunged a health and social care budget into the red and the dispute will now go before independent mediators to decide who pays what.

In a letter Dr Cheyne said: “I conclude that these budgets reside with the Local Authority and that the NHS has no locus on these overspends.”

In the mean-time the council will stump up the cash in the form of a loan to the Health and Social Care Partnership, which is responsible for the debt. 

The Integration Joint Board, which oversees the partnership, agreed to ask for the debt to be divided between the health board and the local authority at a meeting this month.

Councillor William Grant who sits on the board said: “It will go to mediators to find out who should be paying. In the short-time the council will lend the money. It has to be paid back in four years. It is not going to be left. It has to be dealt with.

“I can understand the NHS response. They say the majority of it was caused by children’s services. They don’t think they are responsible for that.”

The deficit occurred during the current financial year, which runs until the end of March.

Integration Joint Board vice chair Councillor Brian McGinley said the board cannot afford to overspend again.

He said: “The Health and Social Care Partnership is operating within an extremely tough financial climate like other public bodies.

He added: “Bringing in a balanced budget is a priority because the board will have to live within its allocated and generated resources.

“To be successful this will mean redesigning services, curtailing rising demands and managing expectations to make the necessary savings and bring the budget in on balance.”