Hospital chiefs have dipped into capital reserves to prop up an ailing bank balance.

Cash intended for maintaining buildings at Airedale General Hospital near Steeton, has been moved to its revenue account so Airedale NHS Trust, which manages the hospital, can balance its books before the financial year ends in seven weeks.

West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority has given the trust the go-ahead to transfer £400,000 from capital funds to its revenue accounts, a meeting of Airedale NHS Trust board heard yesterday.

It is one of several measures the trust has taken to claw back a £1.5 million deficit it was predicting for the end of the current financial year. Other one-off measures which have saved the remaining money include a freeze on filling staff vacancies, delaying its development programme and non-recurrent funding obtained for waiting list initiatives.

Janet Crouch, finance director of the trust, said: "The trust is working hard to achieve a break-even position at the year end, but this is not without a lot of pain - and it does not solve the underlying problem."

She said year-on-year the hospital was spending more than was coming in. An underlying deficit of £2.3 million remained and ways had to be found to cut expenditure permanently.

One of the ways the trust is seeking to save money is by considering controversial plans to close community hospitals in Skipton, Ilkley and Bingley, as part of its cost improvement programme. It had been hoped that two consultation documents would have been available for consideration at the board meeting, but members heard that work is still going on to ensure the best possible standards of care for people currently using Bingley Hospital and Ilkley's Coronation Hospital.

Bob Allen, Chief executive of Airedale NHS Trust, said changes would have to be made.

"We continue to work with partners on these problems and as soon as we are able to we will produce plans," he said.

Professor Brian Jewell, chairman of the trust, said the use of capital money to balance the books was a matter of great regret.

"The £400,000 will be gone forever," he said.