HEALTH Secretary Jeremy Hunt has defended Basildon Hospital after the recent Echo report the hospital’s trust was more than £20million in debt.

On a visit to Thurrock yesterday, Mr Hunt said though spending should be considered, patients had to come first and he was confident the trust was working towards a solution to bring spending under control.

Hospital bosses have said the financial situation is not affecting patient care.

It comes as the hospital continues to experience huge pressures on A&E and recently found itself on black alert. Mr Hunt said: “Quality can never come at any cost because everyone has to live within their budgets, but I know that the trust has a plan in place to get rid of their deficit.

“This was a hospital with one of the highest mortality rates in the country. They were put in special measures.

“Obviously, their first priority is patient safety and to do that, they rightly decided they needed to increase the numbers of doctors and nurses and make sure the wards were safely staffed.

“But what happens when you do that is, in the shortterm.

“Costs go up because you end up having a lot of agency staff.

“You then recruit more full-time staff and your costs start to come down once again. That will now happen at Basildon.”

In December, it emerged health watchdog Monitor was looking into the trust’s finances after it revealed a predicted end of year overspend of £14.2million, which is more than double the original estimate of £6.5million.

The latest report suggests the figure could be £23million.