A DEBT of £10m has been forecast for acute hospitals in Oxfordshire.

The huge bill could hit centres under the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust by the end of March next year.

And the cash-strapped Oxfordshire Health Authority, which gives a share of its money to each NHS trust in the county, has warned that it might be forced to slash funds for top-priority schemes, instead of offering more money to the struggling trust.

Last month ORH chief executive John MacDonald told the Oxford Mail that the next financial year - which starts in April - could see the worst cash crisis in the health service for a decade. And now his team has predicted the difficult 12 months ahead will leave them struggling with a £10m overspend. But financial director Sandy Hogg said the organisation, which oversees Oxford's John Radcliffe, Churchill and Radcliffe Infirmary, and The Horton, Banbury, will still offer patients a high quality service.

She said: "We have already managed to find savings of £5m and there are quite a lot of issues that we are still working on."

Miss Hogg's comments come despite plans by Oxfordshire Health Authority to encourage further cutbacks.

The health authority is already more than £1m in debt and has predicted a £6.9m shortfall for its services in the next financial year.

To recoup some of the cash, managers are looking at slashing schemes across the county which were originally seen as priorities, such as ORH initiatives like three new intensive care beds and three neuro-surgery posts which were set up last year. Oxfordshire Health Authority chief executive Michael Taylor said all health authorities around the country were under instruction to reduce their deficits.

He said: "This is a mill stone around our neck. We are just painting the true picture as we see it. It's not going to be easy.

"We can't save money, because all our money goes out to the trusts - their problems are our problems."

The ORH Trust is already strapped for cash. Last month it was revealed that it had run up £6m of debts this financial year.

Story date: Saturday 18 March

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