Ten NHS hospital trusts recorded deficits in 2011-12 – the largest number to finish a year in the red for more than half a decade, Department of Health figures published today show.

Newham University Hospital Trust, in east London, and Mid Essex Hospital Services Trust, recorded losses of £200,000 and £2m respectively, despite forecasting they would finish 2011-12 in the black as late as December 2011.

Most of the other trusts in deficit were also based in or around the capital, as were the three primary care trusts that recorded full year overspends.

They included South London Healthcare Trust, with a deficit of £65m; Barking Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust, £50m; Whipps Cross University Hospitals Trust, £6m; Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust, £12m; Imperial College Healthcare Trust, £8m; North West London Hospitals Trust, £8m; Enfield PCT, £17m; Haringey Teaching PCT, £17m; and Barnet PCT, £14m.

The remaining trust deficits were £6m at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare and £19m at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals.

The number of NHS trusts with full year deficits was the largest since the NHS’s financial crisis in the middle of the last decade.

The deficits among London trusts pushed the trust sector in the region £96m into the red overall, compared to a net surplus of £45m for all English NHS trusts.

However, the bottom line surplus for NHS commissioners and strategic health authorities rose to £1.6bn by the end of the year, up from £1.4bn at the end of 2010-11 and the £1.5bn the DH was forecasting three months before the end of 2011-12.

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson’s annual report, in which the figures were published, stated: “The PCT and SHA surplus will be carried forward into 2012-13 and will help to make sure the NHS is in the best position as we move forward into the new landscape.”

The report claimed that in 2011-12 the NHS overall delivered savings of £5.8bn, more than a quarter of the estimated £20bn quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) productivity savings it will need by 2015.

“As we have previously noted,” it stated, “the demands of an ageing population and increased costs owing to developments in drugs and advancing medical technologies present challenging financial conditions in a constrained economic environment.

“All parts of the NHS will need to take bold, long-term measures to rise to this challenge and deliver sustainable improvement in 2012-13.”

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