The hospital is being forced to make efficiency savings of £6m or 3.5 per cent in the next financial year because of a freeze in Government funding of the NHS.

A hospital spokeswoman said that they also expect a similar financial challenge in the following two years, but they are not looking to cut staff numbers in order to make the savings, instead looking to work smarter and more efficiently.

Eric Morton, chief executive at the Royal, said that the need to make savings showed that the "reality of the financial challenge for the whole NHS is starting to take effect."

He said: "For this trust, over the next year it means finding smarter ways of working - that will not only improve services for patients, but will save £6m, around 3.5 per cent of our £175m budget.

"Finances are not our only consideration however.

"We have made it clear that we will not make financial savings at the risk of lowering the quality of clinical service provided to patients."

Hospital staff are being asked to put forward "innovative proposals" to suggest how the savings can be realised.

One option being considered is to move the current "out-dated" coronary care facility to within the specialist Pearson medical ward, which would allow patients to stay on the same ward after a heart attack and for follow-up treatment.

Mr Morton added: "Any final decisions on how we make these savings will be determined by the board of directors and announced in May, when the foundation trust has to submit its annual plan to Monitor, the Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts."

But Chesterfield MP Paul Holmes fears that the savings - which he believes are part of national cuts of £20bn, or 12 per cent, over the next three years - will result in reductions in staff numbers and patient services.

He said: "It's absolutely got to effect patient services - there's no way you can cut £6m over one year and it not have any effect.

"It must have an effect on services for the people of Chesterfield and the staff who work at the hospital."