MASS redundancies are feared after the area's hospital trust revealed it has debts of more than £87m.

Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust has managed to more than halve its operating deficit from the £15.8m in 2005/06 to about £7m in 2006/07.

But it has a cash deficit of £87m, which it says is partly due to the legacy of a Private Finance Initiative deal which helped pay for the building of the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough.

The hospital was funded through private finance and the sale of surplus land previously owned by the trust.

Now the trust is working with strategic health authority NHS London to work out how it can solve its debt problem.

It hopes to get a loan from the NHS but public services union Unison's health spokesman Mickey Crouch fears sacking staff will become part of the solution.

Mr Crouch said: "It is unbelievable. I put it down to very bad management.

"If a chip shop loses a million pounds, the guv'nor loses his job, but this is not the case in the NHS.

"I'd like to think at the least the chief executive should explain himself, because the vast majority of Bromley will be appalled.

"It seems they are throwing money down the drain."

Mr Crouch added: "What we do know is when the senior management run up massive debts, it is not those people who pay the penalty.

"How are we going to pay this debt back? Is it going to be with frontline redundancies?"

A trust spokesman says there are no plans to cut any clinical services in the borough but did not rule out redundancies.

She added: "We have a good record in delivering high quality patient care with good clinical outcomes for the people of Bromley and surrounding areas.

"The trust has made a substantial improvement to the year-end operating deficit compared with last year and is continuing to work with NHS London to improve this position still further.

"Every element of the services we provide is being reviewed to ensure we match our workforce to the levels of services commissioned, and make efficient use of the money available while ensuring we maintain safe levels of patient care."