A cash shortage has hit health care in Ryedale and Scarborough.

A £233,000 overspend on medical and surgical equipment has been reported by Gerry Nolan, director of finance for the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Trust.

The trust's savings targets have also fallen short by £200,000, he said.

"The overspend has been rigorously examined to find the cause," he added.

But he said the shortage would not effect the trust's services.

He said: "We will try to do whatever we can to save money, but we will make sure we provide the same service. That is always our priority.

"Savings wouldn't be noticeable to service users. The savings could affect a whole range of activities such as cutting back on travel costs or taking longer to replace staff."

A five per cent increase in the cost of equipment is partly to blame and a rise in the number of operations has also added to the problem, he said.

Much of the savings so far made have been in staff costs, but hopes of cutting costs in supplies have not materialised. "Considerable extra effort will be needed to tackle these problems," he warned.

He said there were two financial risks facing the authority.

July targets for income from the Yorkshire Wolds and Coast primary care group to pay for private work the trust commissions to meet waiting list targets has not been met, putting £105,000 at risk.

And the trust's anticipated performance fund income of £220,000 is in doubt.

"This funding is dependent on the trust hitting all targets both in financial and activity terms," said Mr Nolan.

"Given our present situation, our ability to hit the targets is restricted and we do not know how much we may be penalised as a result".

He said the trust has an annual income of about £71.6 million. Last year's reports showed a financial deficit of £150,000.