A catastrophic financial crisis, a major NHS Trust reveals will leave it unable to pay staff wages in two months’ time.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) is facing a cash shortfall, which may result in its inability to pay thousands of doctors, nurses and other staff, their wages in August.

The news comes, just as the Prime Minister struggles to bring in major health service reforms, with Cameron announcing a climb-down from his original proposals of handing over a majority of the NHS’s budget to GP-led consortia in England, including giving a bigger role to private firms.

According to Cameron, the NHS faces a £20 billion black hole that will impact patients countrywide, without reforms.

Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, UHL Chief Executive, which is one of the largest and busiest trusts in the country with a £688 million budget and a staff 10,000 strong, admits a cash excess of between £5 million and £6 million.

Not having a Foundation status, the Trust unlike other hospitals, is not in a position to borrow money from the private sector for making up the shortfall, even temporarily.