HEALTH chiefs in Glasgow must cut costs by nearly £90 million this year amid "significant" budget pressures.
A paper submitted to the latest board meeting of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde warned that Scotland's largest health board was facing "another significant financial challenge" in 2018/19.
It must make efficiency savings worth £87m, equivalent around five per cent of its baseline allocation.
Even if those savings are made, the board will still face a £29m funding gap.
It comes amid warnings that a separate document entitled ‘Moving Forward Together’, which was approved by the board, casts doubt over the future of local services in the area.
The report highlighted predictions that the number of people aged 65 and over in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde population is expected to grow by 17 per cent by 2025 - an increase of 43,000 people.
The health board said extra hospital beds was not the answer to coping with an increasing elderly population.
The report stated: "We believe that investing in community-based services will better support our population.
"Our intention would be to meet the increased demands on our services by enhancing and maximising the effectiveness of our community-based services and by better linking these services with our specialist and hospital-based services as one single integrated networked system of care.
"There is strong evidence that staying in hospital beyond the time which is clinically appropriate is detrimental to people and can lead to a loss of independence.
"We do not believe that more hospital beds are the best way of addressing the future demand. Neither is it the best way of caring for our population."
Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Anas Sarwar, said: “This paper reveals the extent of the cut to come to our NHS in Glasgow, and just shows that the SNP government in Edinburgh is not delivering the support our hospitals need.
“Jeane Freeman has an overflowing to-do list as the new Health Secretary, but ensuring proper funding and staffing for our health service is essential.
“There needs to be a commitment made now that any potential changes to services are have to be consulted upon, as per statutory guidelines.
“The NHS is our most treasured public service – it deserves better support than this.”
A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: "Like all health boards in Scotland, NHSGGC is required to live within its available resources. At the NHSGGC Board meeting we were pleased to report that in 2017/2018 we succeeded in delivering financial balance.
"As we move through 2018/2019 we will continue to identify areas of efficiency and improvement to strive to achieve financial balance once again, whilst maintaining the quality of care for our local population.
"The Health Board recently approved Moving Forward Together which is an exciting innovative strategy committed to supporting people to live healthier, longer lives at home and enabling people to live independently.
"Care shall be delivered as close to home as possible, supported by a network of local community services with safe, effective and timely access to high quality specialist services for those whose needs cannot be met in the community.
"Our approach will be to provide as much care as possible locally in the community, including some services which are currently provided in hospital."
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