GLOUCESTERSHIRE Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is failing to meet its financial targets, an independent review has found.

The Trust was aiming to have a £5.3million surplus by the end of this financial year but a revised forecast now estimates that it will have a deficit of £11.1million.

Concerns were raised within the Trust about its financial position and the lack of money available to spend, triggering the Board to commission the review.

Bosses at the Trust have assured patients that hospital services will not be affected.

Deborah Lee, chief executive of the Trust and speaking on behalf of the Trust Board said: "We deeply regret that the oversight of our finances wasn’t as strong as it should have been.

"We have taken immediate steps to stabilise the Trust’s financial position, for example, we have reviewed our immediate capital spending priorities and arranged a loan so we can access up to £20million to strengthen our immediate cash position.

"Patients should be reassured that our services continue to run as normal.

"Any patients who need treatment at Cheltenham General Hospital, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital or Stroud Maternity Unit should continue to access services in the same way they have always done."

The review found that the Trust's financial position is 'significantly worse' than the balanced position previously reported.

It found that changes to financial planning assumptions had offset an underlying loss of financial control and a failure to fully deliver cost improvement plans.

The review also found the Trust had spent significantly more money developing and improving its equipment and buildings than it had available.

Ms Lee, who joined the Trust in June of this year, added: “We are commissioning a full independent financial governance review to inform how we govern our finances going forward so this cannot happen again, and we will be putting a detailed action plan in place to bring our finances back on track.

“I firmly believe excellent quality of care and good financial health go hand in hand and am determined as a Trust we will meet the challenges ahead in order to continue to provide high quality, sustainable services for our patients.

“We also welcome the support of our main commissioner, Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, and the national regulator, NHS Improvement, who we will work closely with to resolve this situation.”

The news comes amid controversial plans to change the opening hours of the Minor Injuries and Illness Units in Stroud and Cirencester.

More than 5,000 people signed a petition against the proposed changes, triggering a debate at Gloucestershire County Council last week.