HOSPITAL finance bosses are in “daily” communication with NHS bankers over a perilous cash crunch.

Great Western Hospital faces a likely cash deficit of £6.6million by the end of the financial year next March.

The trust is speaking to national body NHS Improvement (NHSI) about drawing down a cash loan in the new year.

Karen Johnson, GWH’s finance director, said: “Cash is an area of concern for the trust. We are in daily conversations with NHSI over cash support in January and March in particular. It’s those two months where we struggle [with] PFI payments.”

Last month, the Adver reported that the hospital had almost breached cashflow targets set by NHSI that demand they keep at least £1.7m – after the department of health blocked GWH from borrowing out of a central NHS pot.

The trust was only saved after Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group paid their GWH bill on Halloween – a day earlier than expected.

At a meeting of the trust’s board of directors this week, Ms Johnson said that most NHS trusts faced a difficult financial position.

She said that national NHS finance forecasts suggested that there would be a major investment before the end of the financial year. An NHS-wide deficit of £1.1bn was expected to shrink to £623m by the end of the year, she said.

“That suggests that there’s likely to be some form of cash support,” Ms Johnson said, pointing to the government’s £337m emergency winter funding for the NHS announced in last month’s Budget.

The hospital were currently applying for a share of these emergency funds, she added.