According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Neligan suggested efficiencies could be made by reducing the number of patients who miss appointments, reducing unnecessary follow-up appointments, using theatres more efficiently, and reducing staff sickness.
A voluntary redundancy process is under way, but chief people officer Rachael Metcalf said it would be unlikely offered to ward-based nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants and doctors in training.
Instead, she said corporate services could be “leaner” and efficiencies could be made by streamlining how the trusts worked together through the group.
Metcalf said a recruitment freeze was in place and the trusts would consider whether people needed to be replaced once they left.
“To quote our chief executive, we absolutely have got a Herculean financial plan ahead of us,” she said.
“We know we have, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt from our government, and that’s the boundaries we have to operate within.”