BOSSES at the trust which runs Southampton General Hospital are facing a £24m shortfall by next April, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs the General, the Royal South Hants Hospital and the Princess Anne Hospital - is already £5m in the red.

Trust chiefs have set themselves a target of saving £15m over the next 12 months to keep the situation in hand.

Unions are worried the crisis will mean patient care suffers as some vacant posts will not be filled.

However managers have pledged there will be no redundancies and people needing hospital treatment will not be affected.

Trust chiefs could even be replaced by troubleshooters brought in by the Department of Health if they fail to hit their savings target.

See today's Spotlight feature under the 'More News' section for the full story.