Trusts in the red as NHS makes £983m

However, the deficits are outweighed by surpluses across the rest of the NHS, meaning the service expects to report a £983million profit by the end of March next year.

Official figures released yesterday showed that 22 trusts were expecting a total deficit of £204million.

Thirteen of these have seen their debt get worse, while three more expect to slip into the red for the first time.

Leicester County and Rutland primary care trust is top of the debt league, expecting a £22.7million deficit, up from £17.8million last year.

Opposition MPs said the massive surplus is a travesty at a time when many areas have had to slash services and jobs to save money over the past two years.

The NHS's financial position is an improvement on the £547million deficit in 2005/06, which led to cutbacks across the country.

Touring a London clinic yesterday, Gordon Brown said the surplus meant money would be re-invested in the NHS.

"We are talking about more access, more money to tackle hospital infections and measures to ensure people get the best personal care," he said.

But Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "Last year saw dreadful cuts in key services used by very vulnerable people to achieve this year's surpluses."

Dr Peter Carter of the Royal College of Nursing asked why the English NHS had a surplus but could not afford to match nurses' pay rises agreed in Scotland.

"If there is taxpayers' money lying idle in NHS bank accounts let us put it to good use by investing it in frontline staff," he added.