Health Secretary John Reid is to be quizzed by a Commons committee about financial problems at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust.

The powerful Health Select Committee is demanding answers on how the Trust came to be facing a £4 million deficit just seven months after gaining flagship Foundation status.

David Hinchliffe, chairman of the committee, told his fellow MPs at a meeting this week that the Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, appeared to have been given Foundation status even though its finances did not add up.

He told the meeting he understood from "sources in Bradford" that the Primary Care Trusts owed the hospitals £2.5 million at the time. And he said this was part of the reason for the deficit Bradford Hospitals Trust was now carrying.

He went on to question the financial checking procedures at the time the bid went through, claiming the Bradford situation could have huge implications for other Foundation trusts across the country.

Mr Hinchliffe told the Telegraph & Argus: "A source in Bradford told me this information and I want to ask questions about it. What is happening in Bradford could happen elsewhere and it needs some proper scrutiny but we are not getting it.

"I am concerned the prospectus submitted by Bradford when it applied for Foundation status was inaccurate and it did not give a proper financial picture. I view that very seriously."

But he was frustrated by the lack of answers during the committee hearing on Thursday and is now demanding formal answers from Health Secretary John Reid.

Department of Health officials were asked in the committee how the situation had arisen and if the assessors had been thorough enough.

But John Bacon, the DoH's director of health and social care delivery, said it was "inappropriate" to comment and suggested MPs should grill the regulator, Monitor.

Mr Hinchliffe, MP for Wakefield, said he wanted answers as what happened in Bradford could affect his own constituency in the future.

The Health Select Committee agreed to grill Health Secretary John Reid on the issue.

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals said the finances had been submitted in "good faith".

He said: "As part of the (foundation bid) process, we were asked to predict our future income and expenditure.

"These projections were submitted in good faith, built on long history of achieving our financial targets. We made every effort to ensure these were accurate, given the information we were able to draw upon at the time.

"Against an ever-changing backdrop which has brought new complexities and uncertainties to the financial system within which we now operate, we recognise that these projections have not been fully realised."

He said they were working hard to resolve the situation with the Trusts and the Strategic Health Authority.

Today, Bradford North MP Terry Rooney, a Labour backbencher, said he was "appalled" by the Health Department's decision to remain tight-lipped over the issue.

He said: "It is appalling seeing as the Department of Health approved the hospital's financial plans.

"I am extremely concerned at the unwillingness of Department of Health officials to answer questions.

"It leads to suspicions in the public's minds that there are inadequate checks on the financial position of trust's applying for financial status.

"This leads to worries about the implications for patient care."

The T&A revealed last week that financial advisers had been sent in by the independent regulator, Monitor, to check the books of the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust after it emerged it could end up millions of pounds in the red.

Using new powers for the first time, Monitor has intervened to help the hospital - which previously had an impeccable financial record - get back in the black.

The move was seen as deeply embarrassing to the government's controversial plans to create Foundation hospitals.

David Jackson, chief executive of the trust, said at the time he was "disappointed" at the decision to intervene.

But he said the problems were early teething problems connected with the new finance system.

If Monitor discovers serious failings the trust could lose its Foundation status. Foundation hospitals must stay in the black.