The Whanganui District Health Board is forecasting a half million dollar deficit this financial year - but general manager Brian Walden says there is still a chance to break even by June.
The WDHB achieved a break even budget last year for the first time in six or seven years, Mr Walden said, so the budget was this year again set for break even.
However at this stage it was looking as though there would be a $498,000 deficit.
"We're meant to produce a zero result at the end of the [financial] year so that our expenses equal our revenue," Mr Walden said.
"The history of this district health board has been, for some time, deficits. Not huge deficits in the scale of our total revenue, but still deficits of probably one to two million."