A SOUTHEND Hospital nurse live tweeted his resignation due to the constant pressures and struggles of working in a "broken" emergency department.

Matt Osborne, a veteran emergency department nurse, tweeted his resignation at 5am on Wednesday as he “anxiously” waited starting a new shift.

Tagging Southend West MP Anna Firth and Rochford and Southend East MP James Duddridge, the 42-year-old tweeted: “I have seen an exodus of staff. I have seen colleagues commit suicide. I am done, and I am handing in my notice today.

“I am an ED nurse to my core, and your government's approach to health and social care is breaking me.”

Mr Osborne, who has a crunch meeting with trust bosses later this week to discuss his resignation, told the Echo: “I need a break.

“I’ve been working in emergency care for 14 and-a-half years, and I can trace back a gradual slide to 2010.

“The pressure has been building for a while and we are now seeing record numbers of experienced doctors and nurses leaving their jobs.”

He praised his colleagues and the NHS for trying to preserver but said patients were no longer receiving the level of care they deserved due to “underfunding”.

“As much as I want to stay in emergency care, for the sake of my own sanity, I’ve decided I need a break,” he said.

“My colleagues are amazing, I know they and the trust are doing their best, but its very difficult against the backdrop of funding and staffing issues.

“Without that being addressed, there will not be any meaningful change.”

Southend West MP Anna Firth said: “Whilst I can’t comment on the specifics of this case without knowing the full details, I am sorry to read that an A&E staff member is leaving. Everyone in our NHS works incredibly hard, and I applaud them all, especially for their very hard work during the double whammy we have had of covid and winter-flu pressures.

"The management at the hospital have been working exceptionally hard to alleviate the issues our A&E has been facing, and I have been working to assist with this, including being instrumental in getting over £8million of new investment”

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was recruiting more NHS staff, with almost 11,100 more nurses across the country compared to a year ago.

"The health and wellbeing of staff is of paramount importance and the NHS is providing a package of mental health support," a department spokesman said.

"We will soon publish a long-term workforce plan to support and grow the workforce and ease the pressures on healthcare staff."