THE multimillion-pound NHS debt in York and North Yorkshire should be written off by the Government, local councillors have said.

Members of City of York Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee are to write to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt asking him to ensure the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust’s debt is not passed on to the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which replaces it in April.

The committee has voted to write to the Government and the city’s MPs, Hugh Bayley and Julian Sturdy, inviting them to a meeting to discuss the situation.

The committee heard from the PCT’s chief executive, Chris Long, on the current financial position and on plans to shrink the region’s £19 million budget deficit to £12 million by April.

Committee member Coun Sandy Fraser said getting the debt written off seemed the only real solution to avoid the crisis continuing.

As The Press reported last month, health chiefs were slammed for spending £320,000 on a consultants’ report which was expected to reveal where cuts would fall but which was instead labelled a “disappointment” by councillors.

Chairman Coun Tina Funnell said the financial position was “pretty impossible” and the county had a poor funding settlement from the Government.

She also questioned what would happen to outstanding £3 million bills in elderly social services care.