Trust bosses borrow £4bn in NHS crisis

HOSPITALS are borrowing record amounts from the Government to keep themselves afloat.

NHS trusts took out £4.1billion in loans in the past financial year, up from £3.7billion in the previous 12 months, figures show.

Jeremy Hunt’s Health Department has had to provide emergency cash for building projects, equipment, agency staff and utility bills.

The figures uncovered by Labour also reveal trusts owed £7.5billion in loans in 2016/17, up from £5billion the year before.

Experts fear some debts will never be repaid.

Meanwhile this winter brought “unprecedented misery” with a 200 per cent increase in waits in ambulances and record bed shortages, Labour said.