Debt ridden trust has no cash to pay creditors

An NHS trust, one of the 15 most efficient in England, is in such financial dire straits that it has been unable to pay its creditors or place orders for essential supplies, a report by government spending watch-dog has said. The Royal West Sussex NHS Trust, an organisation rated two stars by the Healthcare Commission, had amassed a debt of £20.5m ($37.4m; €30.6m) by March, the end of the last financial year, says a special report by the Audit Commission.

The crisis is so severe that the trust, which serves a largely elderly population, has been left without the …