In his report to go before the board tomorrow, he said that after the first quarter, the board was $2 million ahead of the budgeted deficit.
The improved result was due to lower-than-expected spending on services the board pays other organisations to provide, rather than savings within its own services.
But in his end-of-year forecast, he said the board's services were expected to break even.
This assumed wage settlements would stay within the budget, although this could be a risk given the recent "rejected managed bargaining offer by the unions". (This rejection includes the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, and nurses make up the largest proportion of the board's staff.)If Mr Mackway-Jones' predictions prove correct, the board's deficit would be between $6 million and $7 million instead of the budgeted $10.5 million.
