MEDWAY'S hospital chief will tell the board tomorrow of the "difficult decisions" that have been taken after this year's funding fell £5 million short of what was hoped for.

Medway Maritime Hospital will receive about £6 million more than last year but that is less than Medway NHS Trust chief executive Jan Filochowski had expected.

Although the hospital has identified seven main targets that are to be protected despite the savings, planned increases in capacity are at risk.

In his report Mr Filochowski writes: "We have proposed a balanced budget, although a number of difficult decisions had to be made to arrive at this point...it is a tough settlement."

At tomorrow's meeting, the board will discuss what services can be delayed or deferred, what should take priority and agree the budget. The £110.7 million settlement from the Primary Care Trusts in Medway and Swale, which fund the hospital, means some planned improvements may have to be put on hold.

Hospital bosses met managers from each department to try to balance the budget after it became clear services would not receive the extra £5 million. Extra spending on new drugs for blood conditions, staffing for theatres, a ward menu service and the Improving Working Lives Initiative have been put on hold.

The hospital is concerned that the lower settlement will mean a soaring bill for phased projects when the catch-up work is paid for the following year.

But Jeremy Moon, the trust's finance director, will tell the board that the hospital's seven core targets will remain.

By next March, the hospital plans a maximum wait for in-patient treatment of a year, at least nine-tenths of people spending less than four hours in accident and emergency and a maximum 21-week wait for an in-patient appointment.