Provision of services to change at struggling south London trust, and finances of 13 other trusts under scrutiny

Key services are set to end at hospitals operated by a debt-ridden NHS trust in south London as part of efforts to rescue it, and a growing number of NHS organisations are getting into financial trouble, MPs have been told.

South London Healthcare NHS Trust, which in July became the first trust to be put into administration, having slipped £150m into the red, runs three hospitals in Sidcup, Woolwich and Orpington.

David Flory, chief executive of the NHS Trust Development Authority, which helps manage financially troubled trusts, said big changes were needed to make it viable.

"I think that the full range of services which are provided on all of those sites will change," Flory told the public accounts committee. "They will be provided but not on all of the sites that they are provided [at] now."

His comments raise the prospect of patients needing certain forms of treatment having to travel further to get it, or some forms of treatment or follow-up care being provided in community facilities instead.

Matthew Kershaw, the administrator put in to restructure the trust's finances, has said private healthcare firms may end up managing parts of the trust or delivering some of its services.

The committee heard that 11 of the NHS's semi-independent foundation trusts in England had serious financial problems.

David Bennett, the chief executive of Monitor, which regulates foundation trusts, said the 11 would not be given that status if they were applying for it now.

Monitor is investigating the financial health of 13 other foundation trusts after a review of their financial plans for the coming year raised concerns that some of them may also have serious problems.

The 11 trusts include Mid Staffordshire, to which Monitor sent experts last week to help draw up a plan to ensure its continued existence, and Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals, which has run up debts of £56m, partly as a result of a £335m PFI deal.

Bennett said it had been a mistake to give foundation trust status to the Mid Staffordshire, where between 400 and 1,200 patients are believed to have died as a result of poor care between 2005 and 2008.

The NHS Confederation, which represents hospitals, voiced concern that 24 trusts had proven or potential financial problems, and predicted that others would follow suit. "We know that the NHS as a whole has the cushion to achieve financial balance. But it's a real worry that an increasing number of organisations are getting into difficulty and the issue is likely to get worse", said Mike Farrar, its chief executive.

"It is critical that trusts in difficulty can steer themselves away from the rocks by reshaping what they do in a planned and organised way. Just saying no to change will cause more problems in the long run."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The NHS ended last year in a strong overall financial position, while improving services and delivering £5.8bn of savings. We are working with a small number of hospitals with longstanding financial problems to tackle their issues, with the aim of making them all sustainable by 2014."