THE latest NHS trust to announce job losses has said it needs to cut spending by £2.3m to keep within its budget.

Only days after it survived an extensive Government cull of primary care trusts (PCTs), Darlington Primary Care Trust confirmed it was introducing immediate cost-cutting measures.

Meanwhile, health bosses in the region have been told that the coming financial year will be the most challenging in the recent history of the NHS.

Health trust representatives from the North-East and North Yorkshire were summoned to Newcastle yesterday and given a stark warning by regional NHS officials.

Apart from being instructed to break even this year, all PCTs have to cut the amount they spend on management and administration by 15 per cent.

In a bid to save money, Darlington PCT is axing all temporary posts staffed by agency workers, imposing a recruitment freeze - which includes nurses - and ordering five per cent cuts in spending on services.

Board members were told that the trust had to make unexpectedly high payments to GPs and dentists, as well as paying South Tees NHS Trust for chemotherapy services, which used to be paid for by Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The latest news will add to the jobs gloom in the North-East and North Yorkshire Health Service.

Earlier this year, it was announced that South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust was cutting 237 jobs to reduce debts of more than £21m.

County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust recently admitted it was planning to get rid of 700 jobs over the next few years.

A total of 100 jobs have already disappeared at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust - which is battling a £13.5m deficit - but another 90 are at risk.

York Hospital NHS Trust has introduced a package of cuts designed to save about £7m, which is expected to lead to 200 jobs being lost.

This week's PCT reorganisation will mean five trusts in County Durham and four in North Yorkshire will cease to exist later this year.

They will merge to form two large PCTs in October.

Work has already started to ensure that people who believe their jobs are at risk are given details of other vacancies within the NHS as soon as possible.

Yesterday, David Johnson, chief executive of the Strategic Health Authority in Yorkshire, revealed that job losses across the county were likely because of the £80m debt facing health services.

He told a packed meeting of North Yorkshire County Council's health scrutiny committee that some services were likely to be streamlined to help cut costs.

Mr Johnson said a review of all NHS services in Yorkshire is under way as part of efforts to reduce costs.