Greenwich council’s leader has highlighted the plight of the area’s hospital, as the authority grapples with its own “desperate” funding situation related to health.

Council leader Danny Thorpe told fellow cabinet members that he visited Queen Elizabeth Hospital earlier this month when it was in the midst of a “black alert” – the informal name given for the highest level of overcrowding a hospital can experience.

“Monday 4 November was the worst day in the history of the hospital…they had a deficit of 122 beds, which was people who needed to be placed in the hospital ,” Cllr Thorpe told the meeting.

“Clearly I want to pay tribute to all of the staff who were working flatout with our own social workers to get people through the system…In the end we have a hospital that was built for 100,000 people and has so far seen 177,000 people in a year, the impact that that sort of pressure has on the wider system needs to be noted.”

The comments came as cabinet members were debating the latest budget update for the authority – which shows the council is facing a forecasted overspend of £15.9m for the year. 

Chief among the causes of that was an £11.9m overspend on spiralling health and adult services.

According to a report presented to councillors, “the demand and cost pressures associated with the service will continue as a significant risk going forward”.

It highlighted care packages, specifically for older people and younger people with learning disabilities, were a major factor in the overspend.

Cabinet member for finance and resources Christine Grice said the plight came at the end of a decade of austerity.

“It does actually show the very severe circumstances financially that we are facing in the borough,” she said.

“After 10 years of austerity, it is finally showing, we’re now having to take management action (and) having to find savings in the medium term.”

She said there was a “desperate need to find a funding solution” to spiralling social care costs.

While facing difficult times financially, the report noted steps are being taken to alleviate the pressure on social care budgets, including specifically an end to end review of the service.

The report also noted progress in achieving the 2019/20 ongoing base budget savings of £2.25m.