THE health trust which runs Kidderminster Hospital went £1 million further into the red in one month this year, adding to a deepening financial crisis.

The deficit run up by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has now spiralled to £7.3 million following a £1 million increase during September.

The figures give the trust "serious cause for concern", head of finances David Moon said in a report to last Thursday's meeting of its members, as the winter was now approaching.

Health campaigner Malcolm Cooper told the Shuttle/Times & News after the meeting the body was faced with a "very, very serious situation". He added health bosses needed to "urgently" come up with a plan to arrest the slide.

Mr Cooper - vice chairman of the Health Concern party fronted by Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor - said: "The effect for patients can only be a deterioration of the service because there are not going to be more nurses and there will be fewer medical staff - the whole thing will go into a downward spiral.

"I don't blame the trust entirely because it may be they are not getting enough money but it's going to mean the primary care trusts will want to send patients outside of Worcestershire to places like Birmingham and Dudley."

The hospital trust's finances were getting worse "year by year" said Mr Cooper who added he was furious that Kidderminster Hospital was downgraded in 2000 to "stop the drag on finances" but was still in the red.

However, measures to arrest the deficit were up and running, the meeting was told.

Overspend in theatres was being cut by employing fewer nurses from agencies while extra funding for high cost haematology drugs was coming in from PCTs.

Using costly private healthcare companies to take work off the trust was also being phased out. Trust spokesman Richard Haynes said: "Using private healthcare providers is very expensive and more costly than the NHS. We are now getting that work done within the trust with sessions at weekends, but that means overtime pay."

Emergency admissions had increased "significantly" for the trust - which manages Redditch Alexandra Hospital and Worcestershire Royal Hospital as well as Kidderminster Hospital - said Mr Haynes, adding to the financial pressure.

However he said the new diagnostic and treatment centre at Kidderminster - which opens on December 14 - would be able to free up beds by taking on operations booked in advance and would draw patients from outside Worcestershire, creating extra cash for the trust.

And he stressed clinical services were not being cut and staff numbers were in fact rising to cope with the surge in patient numbers.