Recovering a £10.7m deficit will not involve "slash and burn" and "heavy rationing" within the area’s healthcare budget, the boss of Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group (SDCCG) has pledged.

At a meeting of Epsom Council’s health liaison panel last month, Miles Freeman said the CCG has discussed its recovery plan with NHS England - which will not see the CCG's finances back in the black in the next year.

The chief officer said: "If we were being asked to recover and pay back this money and get the CCG’s finances into a recurring balance for next year it would be an impossible task and something which would require slash and burn and very heavy rationing.

"They are looking for plans which are realistic and deliverable."

Mr Freeman said he does not want to "shunt some of the costs around the system and move the deficit around the different players" - something he said had happened in the past where commissioners charge more from providers and vice versa when one finds itself in deficit.

"What I have seen happen before is that everyone burrows down into their organisation and puts up the shutters and leave the problem with the organisation which is seen to have created it," he added.

"This is not how the reaction has been here."

In an interview with the Epsom Guardian in December, Mr Freeman said the deficit was projected to be £11.4m.

Matthew Knight, SDCCG's chief finance officer, said: "The figure is now £10.7m due to a national rebate from a pooled budget, which has affected all CCGs."