HOSPITAL bosses have been forced to beg for a massive £7.5m short-term loan to pay staff wages.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is in such dire financial straits that it has taken out the loan to cover the cost of its March wage bill for its 4,500 employees - and to ensure its overspend is met.

But despite the problems it is facing this month, bosses have pledged they will be able to meet next month's wages as well.

Staff working in Worcester, Kidderminster and Redditch became so alarmed by rumours they wouldn't be paid at all for March, that director of finance Paul Taylor was forced to send them an e-mail to reassure them.

In it, Mr Taylor told staff about the loan, and admitted that it would mean the trust must tighten the purse-strings for next year.

Seriousness

"Clearly though, this does indicate the seriousness of our financial position and reinforces the need for us all to find savings in our own areas to make ends meet next financial year," said the e-mail.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said that it had since addressed the main problem of the overspend, and reduced the number of expensive agency nurses they were employing.

"A significant part of the overspend was on agency nurses, but we have since recruited a substantial number of nurses," said Richard Haynes, spokesman for the Trust. "This isn't going to solve all the financial issues, but it will make a big difference.

"We are facing a serious financial situation and we're going to have to look at ways of how to recoup these losses and move back into balance."

Dr Richard Taylor, MP for Wyre Forest, said he and other MPs in the county were disappointed in the Trust's financial situation.

"It just emphasises the appalling state that the Hospital Trust is in," said the retired consultant.

"Six local MPs have decided to ask for a meeting with Ministers and for a separate meeting with the Strategic Health Authority to express our dismay for what is going on in the hospitals in the county.

"It's pathetic that the changes we made for financial reasons, with the aim of improving it and the exact opposite has happened."