General Election 2015: Hospitals face £1.9bn 'financial bombshell', Ed Miliband claims

The looming deficits could force hospital managers to cut services, lay off staff and close wards, the Labour leader will say

A private analysis by NHS Providers, which represents foundation trusts, has found that 64 of 98 trusts would make a projected loss in 2015-16 of £759m (Getty)

Hospitals face a £1.9bn “financial bombshell”, Ed Miliband will claim after a leaked survey discovered that nearly two-thirds of NHS Trusts expected to fall into the red this year.

The looming deficits could force hospital managers to cut services, lay off staff and close wards, the Labour leader will say as he seeks to turn the election focus on to the health service in the final 48 hours of campaigning.

He will seize on a private analysis by NHS Providers, which represents foundation trusts, which found that 64 of 98 trusts would make a projected loss in 2015-16 of £759m.

The forecast joint deficit is three times more than they recorded last year and is the equivalent of £1.86bn across all of England’s 240 trusts.

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Those heading for the biggest losses include Lancashire Teaching Hospitals (projected £52.1m), Mid Essex Hospital Services (£45m) and Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals (£43.8m).

The survey did not cover Scotland or Wales, where health is a devolved issue.

The King’s Fund warned last week that the health service faced its worst funding problems in its recent history. The think tank said it appeared to have overspent its budget by more than £800m in 2014-15 despite receiving emergency Treasury funds. It also found that waits at accident and emergency departments were at their longest since 2003.

Mr Miliband will claim the health service is in “grave danger” under David Cameron because of the £3bn cost of the “top-down re-organisation” of the NHS as well as cuts to social care and nurse training.

“Today we discover the financial bombshell he has kept hidden from everyone until now,” the Labour leader will say. “Two-thirds of hospitals face having to make swingeing cuts, not some point in the future, but this year because of a cash crisis made in Downing Street.

“That will mean staff cut, beds lost and services closed. And it is why we need Labour’s better plan for the NHS – a fully-funded plan to get more resources into the NHS and start turning things around, a real plan with real money for real action right now.”

Mr Cameron said last week that the health service was “my life's work” and said: “I profoundly believe that the NHS grows with the Conservatives.”

The Conservatives have pledged to find the extra £8bn which Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said hospitals would need by 2020 to cope with the increasing pressures on them.

The television chef, Delia Smith, endorsed the Labour Party because of its stance on health.

“What I believe profoundly, is the party that campaigned for [the NHS] and created it will be the best one to nurture and sustain it for the future,” she said. “We are all fully aware of the strain it's under, and we each have a duty to do all we can to preserve this most precious asset that makes such a vital contribution to human well-being in the UK. We cannot afford to allow it to fall into the wrong hands.”