NHS trusts have actually been asked to make extreme cuts as the service faces a predicted shortfall of nearly ₤ 7 billion, health leaders alerted today.

In a study for NHS Providers, 47 percent 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 amongst services at risk.

Eighty-six per cent of participants stated their organisation is having to in non-clinical teams, while 37 percent plan to cut clinical posts.

A number of trusts are intending to cut 500 tasks or more, with one preparation as lots of as 1,000.

NHS union Unison's head of health Helga Pile said: "Ministers should not be firmly insisting trusts balance their books while ignoring the harmful repercussions for client care and a demoralised workforce.

"The NHS requires more staff - not fewer workers - if delays and waits on patients are to end."

It comes as NHS president Sir Jim Mackey informed a Medical Journalists Association event in London the service had actually "maxed out on what is economical."

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

Though he has actually demanded extraordinary cost savings, he knocked the "normalisation" of poor care, stating that, 10 years ago, "we would have never accepted old women being on passages beside an [A&E] department for hours on end."

We Own It creator and director Cat Hobbs said: "Back in 2012, the NHS was rated as the best healthcare service worldwide.

"That was before the legislation that intentionally opened our whole NHS to profiteering.

"Sir Jim Mackey is dead-on to say that clients being treated in passages and parking lot is undesirable. If he wishes to stop this scandal while saving money, he should end privatisation as rapidly as possible.