A health and social care partnership has warned there are “no obvious areas where money can be saved” as it appealed to locals to help them decide where to focus cuts.

Argyll & Bute HSCP says it is facing real terms budget cuts and ‘cannot simply continue to provide the same services in the same ways’.

It is asking for the public, staff and other stakeholders for their views on how its integration joint board (IJB) can make another round of savings but warns there are “no easy options left”.

Health and care services in the region face a shortfall of just under £12m. The total budget is around £280m.

They say some savings options will ‘potentially affect services you use and our staff’.

Areas where costs are rising include new drugs, out-of-hours GP services and more services for older people.

Head of finance and transformation Judy Orr said: “The financial picture facing us in the coming year means there will be changes to the health and social care we deliver.

“The Health and Social Care Partnership is committed to listening to the views of people who will be affected by these changes to ensure we include these in our planning.

“All significant service changes will have specific detailed community engagement plans to involve staff, patients, carers, partners and the wider community.

“This will happen throughout February, in parallel to an overall broad consultation about our budget priorities for 2020/21.

“This current consultation is about the partnership’s total budget plan and where we should look to find efficiencies.

“These are very hard choices and there are no obvious areas where money can be saved easily.

“It is important, however, that we involve the people of Argyll and Bute, who will be affected, by exploring every option for savings so they can express their priorities about where savings should be focussed.”

A dedicated webpage for the budget call for views has been launched.