A Midland hospital trust is predicting it will have cleared its multi-million pound debts by the end of next month.
Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Stafford General and Cannock Chase hospitals, ended 2004/05 more than £2.1 million in the red.
But following a series of spending cuts, including a ban on locum, bank and agency staff introduced in November, the trust board said it was increasingly confident it would break even by the end of this financial year.
The latest figures revealed the balance between its income and expenditure had improved by
£290,144 during December, compared with the previous month. It also showed the ban on locum, bank and agency staff had already resulted in £106,806 being saved within the month.
Income also increased by £219,347 above expected levels, after billing for work carried out beyond contracted levels and payment made to the trust after an expected orthopaedic contract failed to materialise.
John Newsham, the trust's director of finance, said: "Savings are being made, which increases the confidence that we can attain break even at the end of the financial year."
