Kingston Hospital has been forced to run at a financial deficit due to "extreme pressure" from coalition budget cuts, its chief executive has said.

Kate Grimes said the hospital must cut £15m of costs between this April and March next year after it assumes responsibility for services previously paid for by Government, and invests in others.

The deficit means planned refurbishment of the accident and emergency department will be delayed. 

Surrey Comet:

Promises: Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg have visited Kingston Hospital during election campaigns

Health commissioners in south-west London say hospitals across the region must collectively save hundreds of millions of pounds in the coming years.

Ms Grimes said: "In line with the rest of the NHS, the hospital is now facing a further cut in the amount we get paid for each patient from April 1, alongside being asked to absorb a whole range of costs for things that were previously paid for nationally.

"Our staff have worked extremely hard to find savings and efficiency schemes again this year.

"They have found savings of more than £6m, but this is not enough to close the gap between our increased costs and the money we are paid.

"It is clear that we cannot do more to close this gap without having an impact on the quality of patient care."

The hospital must now spend £2m per year on its IT system, previously funded centrally, she added.

In a report to March's trust board meeting, Ms Grimes told staff that a planned refurbishment of the accident and emergency department, "whilst extremely important to meet the increasing emergency demand, will be put on hold".

A planning document submitted by the hospital admitted the administration, minor injury and observation area was "not fit for purpose and needs to allow for future expansion" because of "cramped accommodation".

Work on the expansion was expected to begin in the summer and would have allowed more space to treat the most seriously ill patients.

A hospital spokeswoman added that a £1.5m revamp of Kingston's outpatient department was under way despite cutbacks.

When deputy prime minister Nick Clegg visited the hospital in January, after extra NHS cash was announced in the Autumn Statement, Ms Grimes admitted some of her departments were "significantly under-funded".

That includes the maternity department, where Mr Clegg's third son, and both Kingston and Surbiton incumbent Edward Davey's children, were born.

When Mr Clegg visited Kingston Hospital before the last general election, he said: "I'm going to use any power and influence to do anything I can to help the NHS and do anything that stops anything that would threaten this maternity ward."

When David Cameron visited the hospital during the 2010 campaign he promised that "Kingston has a safe future under a Conservative government."

Surrey Comet:

Election issue: Lee Godfrey; James Berry; Clare Keogh

Clare Keogh, Green candidate for Kingston and Surbiton, said: "The Tories and the Liberal Democrats have wasted billions on a top-down re-organisation of the NHS and have refused to protect NHS spending, in keeping with growing demand for high quality services and an aging population.

"We are not only affected by Kingston Hospital's deficit, but cuts to other nearby services - for example mental health wards in Roehampton - have a knock-on effect on our services here too."

Conservative candidate James Berry said: "The staff at Kingston Hospital do a great job, something I see first hand when I go there to volunteer.

"If elected in May, we will invest an extra £8bn in [the] NHS, funding in full the five-year plan drawn up by NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens.

"A strong NHS needs a strong economy and only the Conservatives have a credible long-term economic plan."

Surrey Comet:

Labour hopeful Lee Godfrey said: "Kingston Hospital will run into deficit due to the coalition’s extreme austerity agenda.

"By voting to waste £3bn on a top-down reorganisation, Ed Davey has let Kingston Hospital down badly and caused severe underfunding to the maternity unit that so many of us rely on.

"If elected I will work closely with Kate Grimes, fighting to ensure Kingston Hospital has the funding it needs."

Surrey Comet:

Facing off: Laurel Fogarty; Edward Davey

Mr Davey said: "I’ve already spoken to both the hospital and the local commissioning group who fund Kingston and offered my help.

"Some of us could see [this] coming and took action in government. It shows that Liberal Democrats were right to argue for more money in the Autumn Statement. We campaigned for that.

"We have been arguing consistently in the coalition that the health service was struggling." His party also backed Mr Stevens' plan, he added.

Laurel Fogarty, of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, said: "The main parties have all cut our NHS and opened the door for privatisation of this vital public service.

"Our nurses and other NHS staff are overworked and have been subjected to a pay freeze. All of this in the name of austerity. TUSC opposes all cuts to our public services."

UKIP challenger Ben Roberts said: "This deficit shows the extreme pressures placed upon our NHS service locally, and the failure of PFI investment to deal with the growing demands on front line services.

"Consecutive governments have failed to protect our NHS because of poor investment decisions such as this government's top-down reorganisation.

"We need locally elected healthboards to decide how money is best invested in protecting patient care."