Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, has defended Cambridge University Hospital Trust’s overspend as “regrettable, but inevitable“ as the Government “has left them with nowhere to turn“.

Ten English hospital trusts clocked up combined overspending of £850m last year, official figures reveal.

Cambridge university hospitals trust had the second biggest overspend – £94m.

Mr Zeichner comments: “The trust shouldn’t be blamed for this overspend – the alternative is cutting vital services. With the Government inadequately funding the NHS, staff shortages and and huge demands for care as other preventative services have been slashed, this is hardly surprising.“

“The Government need to resource both the NHS and social care services properly. Rising demand has long been foreseen, yet the Government has failed to plan properly. The foolish changes to the nursing bursaries and uncertainty over Brexit has left our NHS under-staffed as well as under-resourced. It is only the heroic hard working NHS staff that keep services running, and it is time for the Government to make available the resources they need.”