Debt-hit hospitals in £22m bail-outs

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which is facing debts of £42m in 2014-15, is being given an injection of £14m by the NHS Trust Development Authority.

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury and has been beset by a financial crisis for more than a decade, is receiving £8m to cover its expected deficit of £17m.

The authority, which regulates both trusts, said the one-off deficit funding was being directed at hospitals with “particular financial challenges which we consider are exceptional and affect the overall sustainability of the trust”.

The two are among 15 of 98 nationwide receiving “provider deficit funding”, usually described informally by NHS managers as “bungs”.

The regulator has attached strings to the extra cash among them restrictions on senior management pay, although last night the authority would only say it would inform the trusts “in due course” of the details.

The bail-outs come amid a worsening financial crisis in the NHS which is facing rising demand in the face of flat budgets.

Officials also blame the worsening position on a significant increase in the use of contract and agency staff, and failures to deliver cost-cutting measures.

Managers at both trusts have confirmed they are receiving the additional funding.