NHS trusts in England ended the 2014-2015 financial year £822 million in the red – with Worcestershire accounting for more than three per cent of this.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, ended the financial year with a £25.9 million deficit – more than twice its initial prediction of £9.8 million.

This represents more than three per cent of the total deficit reported by every trust in England – revealed earlier today as £822 million.

The trust’s financial woes have been put down to a number of factors including the high cost of hiring temporary staff to help deal with the unexpected levels of demand – which has also been blamed for the national figure – and the lack of beds in the community hospitals or social care placements making it difficult to discharge patients from hospital.

The organisation is predicting it will end the current fiscal year even further in the red, forecasting a £31.3 million deficit.

Speaking earlier this month the trust’s deputy director of finance Haq Khan said the organisation had put a three-year plan in place to work its way back into a positive financial position.

“2014/15 was a very challenging year,” he said. “The focus now is on the turnaround as we get into the new financial year.

“It’s around stabilising the position and putting measures in place to be able to plan over the next few years.”

Commenting on the national figures, a Department of Health spokesman said: "We know the NHS is busier than ever and trusts are facing challenges, however we expect them to show tight financial grip and live within their means.

"We have backed the NHS's own plan for the future by investing the £8 billion needed to deliver it."

Chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing Dr Peter Carter said the figures “make truly sobering reading”.

“The health service needs to wean itself off its overreliance on short-term staffing solutions by translating agency staff into permanent staff and by holding onto the staff it already has,” he said.

"With 30,000 people turned away from nurse training courses last year, we have the means in this country to increase staffing levels in a way which is long-term and cost effective.

“Action must be taken now - the NHS literally cannot afford to continue with the way things are."

Meanwhile chairman of the British Medical Association council Dr Mark Porter called the figures “extremely worrying”.

As a result of failing to balance its budget Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust will – for the second year in a row – be referred to the Secretary of State for Health under section 19 of the Audit Commission Act 1998, as is routine for any trust which ends the financial year with a deficit.

Part of the trust’s plan to work its way back into a positive financial position include making £15.6 million savings. Last year the organisation was able to make £14.3 million savings through a number of measures.