Financial watchdogs will travel north to grill two senior executives from an embattled health board about their financial failings.
The chief executive of NHS Highland, Elaine Mead, and its finance director Nick Kenton will be hauled before the Scottish Parliament’s public audit committee when it visits Inverness on February 2.
Their appearance has been demanded after a scathing report by Audit Scotland criticised the board’s handling of their budget.
Earlier this month the committee said the pair had treated board members “like mushrooms” – by keeping them in the dark until the last minute over the need for a £2.5million Scottish Government bailout to balance the books last year.
The board remains dogged by financial problems and latest figures show that it is predicting an £8.2million overspend this year if drastic action is not taken.
But even its new “financial recovery plan”, which will be discussed at the NHS Highland board meeting in Inverness on Tuesday, could leave it £2.5million short at the end of March.
The deputy convener of the public audit committee, Highlands and Islands MSP Mary Scanlon, said last night: “It sounds like history repeating itself.”
She added: “Last December, NHS Highland board members were told they would break-even, but in March – less than a month before the end of the financial year – they had to go to the Scottish Government for a loan.
“This year, the projected overspend is £8.2million and this seems a significant amount to find from cutbacks before the end of March.”
In a report to go to the board on Tuesday, Mr Kenton admits that the projection of an £8.2million overspend is of “significant concern”.
But he will tell board members that he believes the necessary savings can be made by the end of March.
Some of the cost-cutting proposals in the recovery plan include using nurse practitioners instead of doctors to provide out-of-hours cover and reviewing adult social care packages.
They also include reducing the use of locums and bank staff and cutting staff overtime.
Councillor Margaret Davidson, Aird and Loch Ness, said she was concerned to hear the health board was hoping to save £0.5million from its adult social care budget.
An NHS Highland spokesman said that the visit by the audit committee would “give them the opportunity to formally and publicly respond to the concerns raised”.