NHS Nene in Northamptonshire placed in special measures

Darin Seiger said the CCG has already saved £1m on its management costs

A cash-strapped NHS trust that needs to find £8.6m of cuts by the end of the financial year has been placed in special measures.

NHS Nene Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which has an annual budget of £660m, said it had inherited a £24m deficit when it was set up in April.

Chair Darin Seiger said it would reduce "back-office functions", having already cut manager numbers by 30%.

But it must also now work on a finance recovery plan with NHS England.

Being placed in special measures means external experts will be sent in to work with the senior management team.

NHS Nene CCG provides most of the local healthcare services in Northamptonshire.

Dr Seiger said: "We're going through all the back-office functions that NHS does to make sure that we're performing efficiently.

"We're saving over £1m on our management costs and we've already made a 30% cut in the number of managers."

He added: "What it means for patients is that there should be no change."

The CCG said it expects to break even by the end of the financial year.