THE rising cost of medicines means Wigan and Bolton Health Authority could be overspent by millions of pounds come spring.

Finance chiefs predict a massive overspend by the end of the financial year but the amount is only a small proportion of the overall health budget.

The authority's finance director Phil Wadeson has reported overspends will amount to £4,160,000 by April, after available sources of funds and surplus cash have been used.

But an authority spokesman says this is not a serious deficit when looking at the big picture, and blamed overspends largely on rising medicine prices.

The spokesman said: "In the context of everything, that is not a big amount but the money does still have to be accounted for. This will have implications for the health authority later. In an ideal world we wouldn't have any deficit.

"The deficit has been caused largely by modern medicine becoming more expensive."

He added because new, expensive medicines were becoming available, it was difficult to manage a budget for them but the health authority will take the problem into account when developing next year's financial structuring.

Data from the Prescription Pricing Authority -- an organisation which collects and analyses prescriptions issued by pharmacists -- showed the Authority's most serious financial pressure is in primary care prescribing.

A net forecast overspend of more than five million pounds is predicted.

The cost of sending mental health patients -- in need of specialist treatment -- to other parts of the country has also caused the deficit to spiral.

Currently, to achieve a year-end balance, finance bosses will need £5,260,000 from intra-regional brokerage. This means the authority would enter into a formal agreement to borrow the money from another health authority that has under-spent and repay the figure at an appropriate time.