THE Government is to send financial task forces into two of the most indebted NHS hospital trusts in the region.

It announced yesterday that so-called Turnaround Teams are to visit NHS hospitals that are battling serious debt problems due to overspending.

On the list of Government targets are two trusts in the North-East - the South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, which includes the 1,000 bed James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, which runs general hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton.

The South Tees trust is trying to claw back a multi-million pound overspend.

The trust failed to hit its financial targets in 2004/05, reporting an £8.9m deficit even after a £12m loan from the regional NHS.

That support has now been withdrawn and the trust has been asked to repay the loan as well as curb spending.

The Middlesbrough-based trust has imposed a recruitment freeze that has resulted in 241 posts going unfilled. It plans to make those job cuts permanent. Even with tough spending restrictions, the trust is still predicting that it will end the current financial year £26m in debt.

According to figures released yesterday, the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust is £15.4m in debt.

In common with their South Tees colleagues, the North Tees and Hartlepool trust was hit hard when the County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority withdrew financial support in the form of "brokerage", or repayable loans.

In the case of North Tees and Hartlepool, this meant the withdrawal of £10m support, plunging the trust deeper into the red.

Last month, a spokeswoman for the North Tees and Hartlepool trust said: "We need to make savings without affecting patient care."

New chief executive Ian Dalton is now running the North Tees and Hartlepool and is drawing up plans to make savings.

Despite the shock of being targeted by a Government "hit squad", the South Tees trust has had some encouraging news.

Next Tuesday, the board will formally receive a report from the Audit Commission which detects "encouraging signs of progress" in tackling the financial crisis.