According to a new report, more than 30 hospital trusts operating under the UK's NHS health system had a combined deficit of more than £ 300 million during the previous year.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said in the report that more than £ 300 million had to be injected into the health system to help deficit facing trusts pay their staff and continue to provide services. It said that even as the NHs posted a surplus of £ 2 billion there was financial distress in parts of the country.

According to the estimates, the NHS is expected to produce £20bn in savings by 2015. Health sector experts have said that there could be more rationing of health services and an increase in paid health care under the NHS as the state-run health system undergoes a decade of austerity. NHS will get settlements from 2015 until 2022 of somewhere between 0% and 2.4% a year to ensure that the health sending's proportion to the national income stays the same over the years.

The NAO said that it was "hard to see how continuing to give financial support to organisations in difficulty will be a sustainable way of reconciling growing demand for healthcare with the size of efficiency gains required within the NHS."

It was found that £253m was paid out to 11 hospitals, including £21m to Mid Staffordshire foundation trust and £41m to Peterborough and Stamford hospitals trust.