Three troubled NHS trusts collectively forecasting a deficit of more than £73 million have been placed into financial special measures.

The drastic intervention by health watchdog NHS Improvement (NHSI) will see East Sussex Healthcare Trust, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust lose control of their finances and see experts parachuted in from other trusts considered more financially stable.

This already happened to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) in July, and saw Simon Worthington of Bolton NHS FT brought in to take charge of developing a centrally approve financial recovery plan and reducing the deficit.

This currently stands sat £11.4m - £300,000 over plan.

The sanctions introduce tough controls but come alongside a relaxation of fines levied for missing targets in cancer, routine operations and A&E waiting times.

Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS improvement, said “The five trusts who are already in financial special measures have responded well, and we’ve been able to work together to identify around £100 million extra in savings.

“However, the three providers going into financial special measures are causing significant concern. They’ve agreed savings targets locally but are a long way from meeting them. We also need to be able to rely upon good financial governance in every provider, so the problems unearthed at Gloucestershire are a real concern.

“The financial performance of these three trusts has simply not been good enough and so we’re sending in some targeted support to identify what the problem is, and help them fix it."