HEALTH trusts across Greater Manchester are predicting a total debt of almost '50m by the end of the year.

A new report shows seven trusts in the region are expecting to be between '1m and '21m in debt by March. They say they lose out under new health service funding arrangements, which started in April, and others are saddled with historic debts.

In June the M.E.N. revealed Pennine Acute Hospital Trust, which runs hospitals in Rochdale, North Manchester, Oldham and Bury, was predicting a debt of '21m.

This latest report on NHS finances, which was complied three months into the financial year, shows North Cheshire Hospitals are battling a predicted '11m debt and Trafford North PCT expects to be '7m in the red by March. Trafford Healthcare Trust, Trafford South PCT, Stockport PCT and Manchester Health and Social Care Trust are also predicting deficits running into millions of pounds.

A spokesman for North West NHS said: "There are some areas where there are problems and they are being tackled.

"These are predictions of where we think we may be unless we do something about it. Over the last few years the trusts in this area have had good financial records, but now that we have merged with Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, we have to look at the budget across the whole of the North West."

Pennine

Last month, bosses at Pennine announced plans to cut 325 jobs, 250 beds and sell off its headquarters - to get their finances back on track. A spokesman for Pennine said: "The trust has already set out its recovery program aimed at bringing us back in balance in year.

"We recently met unions to discuss possible action plans. This work is ongoing and will last through the year and beyond."

Steve Barrow, assistant finance director of North Cheshire Hospitals, said: "We are working with staff and our partners in primary care to identify ways of improving efficiency, while safeguarding the high quality of patient services we provide."

A spokesman for Trafford North and South PCT said: "We are working hard to reduce unnecessary costs and increase service quality to achieve further financial improvements."

Trafford Healthcare Trust and Manchester Health and Social Trust have been battling historic debts for several years.

Nationally, the NHS is forecasting an '18m surplus. The health service's debt is predicted to total '883m in 120 organisations, compared with '1.2 billion in 174 trusts last year.

Health Minister Lord Warner said: "By publishing NHS financial data on a quarterly basis, we are being more open and transparent about NHS accounts than ever before." Tweet