NHS trusts have been asked to make drastic cuts as the service faces a predicted shortfall of nearly £7 billion, health leaders warned today.

In a survey for NHS Providers, 47 per cent of trust leaders warned they are rolling back services to balance the books, while another 43 per cent are considering doing so.

Rehabilitation centres, talking therapies and diabetes services for young people are among services at risk.

Eighty-six per cent of respondents said their organisation is having to cut jobs in non-clinical teams, while 37 per cent plan to cut clinical posts. 

A number of trusts are aiming to cut 500 jobs or more, with one planning as many as 1,000.

NHS union Unison’s head of health Helga Pile said: “Ministers shouldn’t be insisting trusts balance their books while ignoring the damaging consequences for patient care and a demoralised workforce. 

“The NHS needs more staff — not fewer workers — if delays and waits for patients are to end.”

It comes as NHS chief executive Sir Jim Mackey told a Medical Journalists Association event in London the service had “maxed out on what is affordable.” 

He said that the NHS was likely to have a £6.6bn deficit this year, despite a budget of around £200bn. 

Though he has demanded unprecedented savings, he slammed the “normalisation” of poor care, saying that, 10 years ago, “we would have never accepted old ladies being on corridors next to an [A&E] department for hours on end.”

We Own It founder and director Cat Hobbs said: “Back in 2012, the NHS was rated as the best healthcare service in the world. 

“That was before the legislation that deliberately opened up our whole NHS to profiteering. 

“Sir Jim Mackey is absolutely right to say that patients being treated in corridors and car parks is unacceptable. If he wants to stop this scandal while saving money, he must end privatisation as quickly as possible.

“Our research shows that £10 million a week leaks out on profits for cherry-picking private companies.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr John Puntis said: “Sir Jim should be pointing out to ministers that we spend less on healthcare than other developed countries and spending has not kept pace with population growth and changes in demographics. 

“It is this underfunding that has led to the unavailability of resources and so to poorer performance. 

“Private finance initiatives and expensive contracts with the private sector continue to be a drain on the NHS. 

“If the NHS fails, the economy fails – now is not the time to say there is ‘no more money,’ but to invest for the future while creating a fairer taxation system so that the rich pay a fair share.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned Prime Minister Sir Keir Stamer that he “cannot continue with the Conservative legacy of running the NHS into the ground under the guise of ‘reforms’.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We invested an extra £26bn to fix the broken health and care system, and through our Plan for Change, we are determined to tackle waste and drive up productivity in the NHS.”