LONDON'S share of the mounting NHS debt crisis is even bigger than previously expected, new figures reveal.

Final audited accounts published today by the Department of Health showed that NHS deficits in London are £6 million greater than predicted when the provisional figures were released in June.

The overall shortfall for London in the last financial year stands at £174,078,000 - more than 30 per cent of the national deficit of £547 million.

Topping the list is Hillingdon PCT with debts of £36,148,000, followed closely by St George's Hospital Trust with £33,569,000.

LONDON'S NHS DEBT

1. Hillingdon PCT £36.1m
2. St. George's Hospital Trust £33.6m
3. North West London Hospitals Trust £24.1m
4. Kensington and Chelsea PCT £21.7m
5. Queen Mary's Sidcup Hospital Trust £19.8
6. Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust £19.3m
7. Hammersmith Hospitals Trust £18.5m
8. Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust £16m
9. Whipps Cross Hospitals Trust £15.9m(provisional figure)
10. Bromley Hospitals Trust £15.8m

Almost 900 beds were axed from London's hospitals last year in a bid to cut costs and meet Government demands to balance the books.

Elizabeth Howlett AM, London Assembly Conservative Spokesman for Health, said: "These figures are yet another damning indictment of the way this Government is driving the NHS to the point of meltdown.

"Total incompetence at the highest levels of government has left us with a situation where patient care and safety are being put at risk on a daily basis as hard-pressed hospital administrators are forced to put budgets before people."

However, health secretary Patricia Hewitt today insisted the health service would be back on track by the end of the year.

In a written parliamentary statement, she told MPs:"My department's report on NHS finances at Quarter 1 of 2006/7 indicates that the NHS is on track to achieve our aim of net financial balance by the end of the current financial year."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb said: "These figures make it even more unlikely that the NHS will break even.

"This is further evidence that ministers haven't got health funding under control."