Health services in Yorkshire are set to report total debts of more than £90m this financial year, a BBC study shows.
The survey of 57 NHS trusts across the region shows that the overall financial position is expected to worsen from a current combined deficit of £77m.
That is despite sweeping cost-cutting measures including delayed operations, limits on recruitment and pay cuts.
Teams of financial experts are to be sent into six trusts in Yorkshire to help put their budgets back on track.
The so-called "turnaround support" announced by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt this week will be given to Selby & York Primary Care Trust (PCT), the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and the four PCTs which cover Sheffield.
Only 12 other trusts nationwide are deemed by the government to be in need of such measures.
The BBC's research shows that almost two-thirds of the total NHS debt in the Yorkshire and Humber region is accounted for by just FOUR trusts.
"The organisation's level of debt will rise year-on-year unless action is taken"
The worst financial picture has emerged at the Selby and York PCT, which expects its current deficit of £15.9m to spiral to £23.7m by April.
In September last year, the PCT's chief executive, Jeremy Clough, was ousted following a financial review by the North Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority.
Penny Jones, chief executive of a neighbouring PCT, was brought in as acting chief executive along with a new finance director. They are in the process of finalising a financial recovery plan.
The trust said "The quality and provision of primary care services have been funded at a higher level than the income received by the Department of Health.
"Unanticipated high levels of patient care at York Hospitals Trust have added to our financial risk. The organisation's level of debt will rise year-on-year unless action is taken."
Savings drive
The region's second largest debt has been accrued by the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, covering hospitals in Dewsbury, Pontefract and Wakefield, which expects its shortfall to deepen from £9m to £14.7m.
Managers there have already introduced measures which have generated £9m of savings in the last year.
They have reduced their reliance on costly agency staff, cut the cost of buying medicines and even launched a shuttle bus service for staff to minimise travel expenses.
The Yorkshire Wolds & Coast PCT says it will overspend by £11m this financial year - £2.7m more than it forecast in July 2005 in a three-year financial recovery plan approved by its board members.
It has blamed the worsening outlook on "additional financial risks due to treating more patients than planned and the cost of new contracts for GPs and pharmacists".
Last year the trust commissioned an external review to identify more efficient ways of running its community hospitals in Driffield, Withernsea, Hornsea and Bridlington and has proposed closing the minor injuries unit at Hornsea.
Recruitment freeze
The last of the debt-laden quartet is neighbouring Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale PCT, which last year managed to achieve financial balance, was £5.2m in the red in December and expects an end-of-year overspend of £6.5m.
In its attempt to cut costs, the trust has imposed a recruitment freeze in corporate services and clinical recruitment is restricted to maintaining clinical safety.
Elsewhere in the the region, the four primary care trusts in Sheffield are £6.9m in debt but expect the year-end figure to more than double to £15.2m between them - blaming higher-than-expected levels of emergency admissions and increased hospital referrals.
In the Yorkshire Dales, the Craven, Harrogate & Rural District PCT has imposed a ban on non-urgent operations and restrictions on non-essential recruitment as its deficit grows from £2.2m to a forecast £4m.
Of the 57 hospital, primary care, mental health and ambulance trusts in the region, 35 predicted they would achieve break-even by the end of the financial year as required by the government.
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