An NHS Trust has been told it may go bust with an administrator appointed to run it, a first for the health service.

Chris Ham, chief executive of the health think tank the Kings Fund, says the the challenge for the administrator will be to "preserve the services" at the trust but also come up with a long term plan to "ensure these services can continue within the funding envelope".

He told the Today programme that having an administrator is "very convenient" and as it "distances the government from the problem".

"It's a welcome development... facing up to the problems we've known about for a long time," he told Evan Davis.

Stephen Dorrell, chairman of the Health Select Committee, agreed that bringing in an administrator is "the right thing to do".

He says he regrets the fact that Private Finance Initiative deals were signed at private sector cost, but with the public sector carrying the risk.

"It is indefensible," he said and it is "necessary we face the need for change".

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