DOCTORS and councillors have launched a stinging attack on health chiefs following a "wasted opportunity" to write-off thousands of pounds of debt.

North Yorkshire And York Primary Care Trust (PCT) began the year £48 million in the red - leading to widespread cuts in patient services.

More than £16 million of this debt is owed to the regional NHS authority. advertisement But today, despite revealing they are on track to end the year with a £280 million surplus, bosses at NHS Yorkshire and the Humber are still refusing to waive the money owed to them by North Yorkshire & York PCT. Dr David Fair, a GP at Jorvik Medical Practice, in York, said he was "appalled" by the situation.

He said: "It think it's disgraceful that all this money is being left unspent when patients in York are having to suffer because of the PCT's financial problems. "It is not fair that the general public is being penalised through no fault of their own." At the end of last year, the PCT was forced to introduce a range of money-saving measures, including the suspension of certain hospital treatments, such as injections for back pain.

GPs were asked to send any patient they felt urgently needed one of these treatments to a prior approval panel of PCT doctors, who only granted procedures to cases they deemed exceptional.

Dr Fair said: "It is frustrating that our clinical judgement is being overwritten and individual patients are being punished because of where they happen to live.

"This seems to be a wasted opportunity to write off the debt. It is unjust and unfair." Coun Sue Galloway, executive member for adult social services at City of York Council, also called for the debt to be written off.

She said: "I feel very strongly about this. The last year has seen 200 jobs disappear at York Hospital and patients in York have had to see some fairly severe cuts to services.

"I want our PCT to be able to start on a clean sheet so we get back some of the services that we have lost." A spokesperson for NHS Yorkshire and the Humber said their expected surplus would not be left unspent, even though it would not be used to pay back the debt of North Yorkshire And York PCT.

He said: "It has already been allocated on improving NHS services for people living in the region, particularly those who are in the most deprived areas."

A PCT spokesperson said they continued to work closely with NHS Yorkshire and the Humber, adding: "It is the PCT's responsibility to manage its finances within available resources."