HOSPITAL bosses have vowed they will balance the books – by clawing back a deficit of more than £3m.

Latest figures show Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was expecting to have overspent by £3.1m from April to November last year.

But a report to the board of directors revealed the trust had managed to run up £200,000 more costs than planned.

It comes at the same time the trust – which runs the John Radcliffe, Church and Horton general hospitals and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre – revealed it had spent £29.6m on agency and bank staff during the same period.

But financial director Mark Mansfield insisted the books would be balanced by the end of the financial year.

He told the Oxford Mail that in December the trust had reduced the deficit to £2.2m – £500,000 better than it had forecast for the the end of the year.

Mr Mansfield said the trust was expecting to have a deficit going into the last quarter of the financial year, but had forecast payments coming in before March to clear it.

He added: "We are expecting to hit our plan and are doing what we said we would do. We are going to break even."

The trust, which has an annual budget of £960m, has also managed to cut agency and bank staff spend from £2.6m in November to £1.35m the following month.