Board chiefs have defended a £7.3m deficit for mental and community health services in the latest financial headache for the county's beleaguered health economy.
Bosses at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Pendleview unit in Blackburn and The Mount in Accrington among other services, have reported their budget is in the red for 2024-25.
And the impact of costly out-of-area beds and the levels of patients who are clinically ready to be discharged have been blamed for chiefly being responsible for the deficit.
The announcement comes as the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board battles back from a £500m financial black hole with the intervention of NHS England.
Similar budgetary assistance is also being offered to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals.
Elsewhere financial intervention work is also being undertaken with hospital trusts in Preston and Blackpool.
In a board report on the Lancs and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust's position, chief executive Chris Oliver told colleagues the organisation still had plenty to celebrate over the course of the year.
He said: "While a deficit is disappointing, it speaks to the financial stress in the wider NHS and more particularly the issues in the wider Lancashire and South Cumbria health economy.
"It needs to be acknowledged that this is the first time the trust has missed its financial plan in 10 years and the trust has performed well in other areas.
"For example, the trust has successfully delivered £27m of efficiencies, some 50 per cent more than has previously been delivered, a remarkable performance.
"In addition, the trust has reduced its reliance on agency staff, albeit at a marginal level. The trust continues to develop its estate, and has invested £46m in building and digital infrastructure during the year, having been successful in a number of bids for national funding."
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Mr Oliver lauded progress on the construction of the £32m new Water Meadow View in-patient learning disability unit near Preston alongside acquiring Private Finance Initiative built units at The Bay in Morecambe.
He also highlighted the repurposing of wards at the former Calderstones Hospital in Whalley, as well as bringing East Lancashire Child and Adolescent Health Services into their orbit.
Mr Oliver added: "Despite the overspend, the trust has continued to move forward and invest in its services, colleagues and infrastructure and has a clear understanding of how it intends to recover financial balance in 2025/26."
Trust board members were told in a separate report that mental health wards continued to be challenged by 'super-stranded' cases - where patients have encountered stays of 120 days or more.
This figure has remained virtually static over the course of the year, with 121 such cases in April 2024 and 123 by March 2025 - including 27 in the Pennine area covering East Lancashire.
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