A senior figure at Newcastle Gateshead NHS CCG called on the Government to support the health service by rowing back on austerity-driven cuts to primary care provision - and specifically Sure Start centres.
Bill Cunliffe, a retired surgeon and one of the top medics on the CCG's governing body, also said - as the NHS continues to face unprecedented pressure across the board, that "the limiting factor at the moment really is workforce".
He said funding primary care services would save the NHS money in the long-run.
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Speaking at a meeting of the CCG's governing body, he spoke of how the organisation having a financial surplus - money left over - at the end of the financial year was not as simple as it looked.
He said: "I want to make sure people are fully aware of the facts. It may seem ridiculous that we are sending money back to the Government at a time when we are in such pressure.
"The issue is that we can't support staffing with capital funding. That's not something any of our organisations can do. If the Government were to take things seriously, they should look at putting more money into recruiting and they might also want to reverse George Osborne's decision in getting rid of Sure Start."
Mr Cunliffe said that "putting more money into primary provision" and public health provision like Sure Start centres would "cost far less" than waiting to treat people when they were acutely unwell.
He added that Government investment in staff was vital, saying: "The limiting factor at the moment really is workforce."
In 2019, data showed spending on Sure Start centres - aimed at "giving children the best possible start in life" - had been slashed by more than half in the North East.
Earlier in the meeting, chief officer Mark Adams explained how the NHS in Newcastle and Gateshead had been under really pressure due to Omicron - and staffing levels have been hit hard by absence due to Covid.
Mr Adams said: "It's still the case that it's really busy in terms of core health services. While the Covid admissions have started to come down, demand for services is still high. And the high Covid rates are still putting real strain on staffing."
He added that staff remained off sick across NHS services but said: "Hopefully things will continue to improve, but it's a very busy operating picture."
Joe Corrigan, the CCG's chief finance officer added: "It's been about seven weeks since we last presented and it's probably been the most challenging seven weeks we've seen in a long time in terms of staffing."
Earlier in January reps from the union UNISON called for a long-term solution to NHS staffing shortages, rather than an "Omicron fix".
The union's Sara Gorton said: "The NHS has been running on empty for years. Never again must the pleas from staff, employers and unions for urgent action on staffing numbers be ignored."
Earlier this week the former chief exec of NHS England Sir Simon Stevens accused the Government of "wilful blindness" over what he said was it failure to set a long term workforce plan for the NHS.
In response, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons Health and Social Care committee said he disagreed that there wasn't a plan for NHS workforce, and added: "I can't say enough how incredibly hard the NHS and social care workforce works - both in normal times but especially in the face of the pandemic where they have risen to the challenge and served with distinction. We all have a duty to support them in any way we can.
"Over the last year there have been 44,700 more people in the NHS. We have the highest number of doctors and nurses we have ever had. And in medical schools last year was the highest intake we've ever had. We have really got a pipeline of GPs, of other doctors, of dentists, coming through. There's a huge amount of investment."
In the past, NHS figures have called into question Government figures around NHS staffing - with the British Medical Association saying changes to the way figures of working GPs were calculated were misleading.
For example, in September, NHS workforce data showed there was the equivalent of 27,699 full time GPs working in the UK. In September 2015 the figure was 28,115 - but the BMA has queried this saying previous estimates suggested there were more than 29,000 GPs in the service at that time.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had invested more than £500m over the past year to expand primary care capacity and support GPs - but in last year the BMA's regional council chair for the North East Dr George Rae said the extra funding was "welcome, but won't remotely solve the problem".
