AIREDALE NHS Foundation Trust overspent by almost £1 million on its budget of £150 million in the past financial year.

The news comes after it was revealed as the NHS ended a record £2.45 billion in the red.

Airedale's overspend was slightly less than it had forecast.

An Airedale Trust spokesman said: “As reflected across the NHS, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is reporting a deficit.

"The reported position for 2015/16 is an operational deficit of £997,000 against a planned deficit of £1.2 million. The planned deficit was to cover additional staffing across ward areas to maintain patient safety.”

Bradford District Care Trust - which runs the Centre for Mental Health at Airedale Hospital - successfully underspent on its budget of some £130 million in 2015/16 but its finance chief warned the next 12 months will be much tougher, with reduced spending across some key services.

Liz Romaniak, its director of finance, contracting and facilities, said: "Despite a challenging year in 2015/16, the trust achieved our planned surplus of £1.3 million.

“This reflects the extraordinary hard work, commitment and innovation our staff deliver on the frontline and in support functions.

“The outlook for 2016/17 is much more challenging; we need to deliver £5.8 million cost improvements, which represents an efficiency gain of about 4.4 per cent.

“The level of efficiency required reflects impacts for our services from reduced national Public Health Grant funding on our contracts for health visiting, school nursing and substance misuse services, as well as local cost pressures as we invest in technology and innovation."

The overall level of NHS debt prompted a warning that patient care will begin to suffer without rapid action to tackle health service finances.

The deficit is lower than the £2.8 billion which had been predicted, which Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS Improvement, said showed that "providers have made every effort to meet rising demand for services at a time when the sector is also being asked to be more efficient than ever".

But NHS Providers, which speaks for most trusts, said rapid action was needed or patient care would suffer.

But a Department of Health spokesman said: "We are committed to the NHS and are investing £10 billion in its own plan for the future, and it is vital that money is accounted for consistently.

"We recognise parts of the NHS are under pressure as demand rises due to our ageing population, but we are providing intensive support to improve performance, boost efficiency and reduce the use of expensive agency staff."