NHS trusts have been asked to make drastic cuts as the service faces a predicted shortage of nearly ₤ 7 billion, health leaders cautioned today.

In a survey for NHS Providers, 47 per cent of trust leaders cautioned they are rolling back services to stabilize the books, while another 43 percent are thinking about doing so.

Rehabilitation centres, talking treatments and diabetes services for young individuals are amongst services at threat.

Eighty-six percent of participants said their organisation is having to cut tasks in non-clinical teams, while 37 percent plan to cut medical posts.

A number of trusts are aiming to cut 500 jobs or more, with one preparation as lots of as 1,000.

NHS union Unison's head of health Helga Pile said: "Ministers should not be firmly insisting trusts balance their books while ignoring the destructive consequences for client care and a demoralised workforce.

"The NHS requires more staff - not less workers - if hold-ups and awaits patients are to end."

It comes as NHS primary executive Sir Jim Mackey informed a Medical Journalists Association event in London the service had "maxed out on what is cost effective."

He said that the NHS was most likely to have a ₤ 6.6 bn deficit this year, despite a spending plan of around ₤ 200bn.

Though he has demanded extraordinary cost savings, he slammed the "normalisation" of poor care, stating that, 10 years earlier, "we would have never ever accepted old women being on passages beside an [A&E] for hours on end."

We Own It creator and director Cat Hobbs stated: "Back in 2012, the NHS was rated as the finest health care service in the world.

"That was before the legislation that intentionally opened our entire NHS to profiteering.

"Sir Jim Mackey is definitely best to say that patients being dealt with in corridors and car parks is inappropriate. If he wants to stop this scandal while conserving cash, he needs to end privatisation as quickly as possible.