NHS trusts expected to see £750m shortfall, experts say

NHS trusts are expected to have seen a shortfall of as much as £750 million in the last financial year, experts said.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said there had been "very good progress" in reducing it from a higher figure by last month.

Emerging weeks ahead of the General Election, the figures were seized on by the Labour Party, with shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth describing the shortfall as a symptom of the Government at its "weakest and most unstable".

Mr Hopson told Sky News: "We think that at the end of the year NHS trusts will have delivered a deficit of between £700 million and £750 million.

"If you compare that to last year's £2.45 billion that's a very significant reduction, and that is due to a lot of good work at individual trust level, including taking out almost £750 million in agency costs.

"The NHS front line has delivered, we have done our bit. What we hope that those standing for election will recognise is that we cannot carry on in the longest and deepest squeeze in NHS history, and we hope that after the election it will be matched by more funding for the NHS."