Kingston Hospital bosses hope to run a budget surplus in the next financial year thanks to a government funding boost.

The hospital’s 2016-17 budget includes an underlying £4.2m deficit, down from a projected £6.5m at the end of this year, but an influx of sustainability and transformation cash is expected to get the trust back in the black.

The hospital has been charged with making nearly £9m of costs savings between 2015 and 2017 and, at the end of February this year, had managed £7.2m of the total, according to a report to Kingston Council’s health overview and scrutiny panel.

MPs on Parliament’s influential public accounts committee reported this spring that across the country the financial health of trusts, including foundation trusts, has “significantly worsened” in the last three years.

A mandated 4 per cent overall cuts target was “unrealistic”, they added.

Kingston Hospital’s next trust board meeting is due to be held on Wednesday, May 25, from 9.30am in seminar room one.