An emergency £2 billion bailout of the NHS is being demanded within the government amid high-level fears of an approaching crisis in patient care.
Ministers have been given dire warnings about the consequences of a raid on hospital budgets next year. Experts are predicting longer waiting times and staff cuts as hospitals slide into the red without extra funds from the Treasury.
The shortfall is so pressing that there are demands for George Osborne to take action in his last autumn statement before the election. If he refuses, he will find himself in a confrontation with doctors, who declare today that the NHS has already been cut to the limit.
Medical staff say that there is no “vast pot of wasted billions in the NHS”