The cash must not be used for emergency ambulances

The county's health trusts are �31m in the red and asked if the council, which has reserves of �70m, to lend them the money to ease their plight.

The two-year loan is the first time the NHS in the region has effectively been bailed out by council tax payers.

The full council is recommended to approve the loan, as long as it gets written support from the office of the deputy prime minister and Department of Health.

Not only are they going cap-in-hand, but they are also cutting front-line services Neil Burden, Community Health Council

The health community in Cornwall consists of the three primary healthcare trusts and the Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust, supported by the South West Peninsula Health Authority.

The NHS in Cornwall says it will pay any money back, with interest, from 2006. It plans to have paid all of the loan back by 2008.

But the law limits what can be funded with money borrowed in this way.

Health managers must not use it, for example, for emergency ambulances and surgery.

However, despite the loan, the deficit is still concerning the local health watchdog, which says the shortage of money has affected services.

The chairman of the Cornwall Community Health Council, Neil Burden, said: "We don't care where they get the money from.

"But we don't like what is happening because, not only are they going cap-in-hand, but they are also cutting front-line services.

"Therapeutic support and day services are being cut in the name of financial deficit and people are suffering for it."

The proposal will now go before the full council next week.