A UNION report yesterday laid blame for the slide of beleaguered care group Southern Cross at the hands of "scandalous financial engineering".

It comes as the cash crisis at the Darlington-based care provider will be discussed in Parliament amid a new wave of calls for Government intervention.

The GMB dossier, ‘The Cross We Have To Bear – The Greedy And The Gullible’ hits out at institutions and analysts across the financial sector who backed the private company’s “sale and leaseback” model before its 2006 sell off by the US private equity firm Blackstone. The report says City analysts ignored risks ahead of the sale.

Blackstone made £600m from the company’s sale while other City executives pocketed more than £30m, the union claims.

The care provider, which has more than 100 homes and 1,750 residents in the North East, has been left struggling with a £230m annual rent bill and is looking for a £100m cash injection to keep it afloat.

Speaking at a union conference in Brighton, GMB national officer Justin Bowden said: “Southern Cross should serve as a warning of what happens when we forget our basic approach to economic policy and the role of the state.

He added: “What is really galling is that many of those who organised the mess that is the care sector in private hands are still in senior jobs in the City employed as highly-paid financial experts.”

Blaydon MP Dave Anderson and Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham are set to challenge health ministers over the crisis when they face departmental questions in the Commons today.

Mr Anderson said: “It just shows the Government has to do what people like me who have worked in care are saying, which is the state should provide much more and not rely on market forces.”

The Labour MP added: “You cannot treat people like tins of beans.”