SOUTHEND hospital’s A&E is in a mess because of staff shortages and the constant waste of big money on endless managers, a GP has claimed.

Dr Marimuthu Velmurugan, who sits on the hospital board and is a Southend councillor, has launched a scathing attack on the way the emergency department is run. He said this is why far too many patients are waiting for more than four hours to be seen - and he believes the problem is not enough cash being spent on consultants in A&E.

He said: “Our hospital is failing. And this is because there are not enough consultants. “Five or six consultants are managed by one temporary director of operations of the trust earning allegedly £1,100 a day.

“Next in command is a clinical director, who is a full-time consultant. He is supported by a manager paid £600 a day.

”We need at least 12 consultants in A&E, there should be three working at any one time on a rota.”

The GP said there was a medical director of the trust and a chief executive above these managers too.

He added: “All these people to manage five or six beleaguered, hardworking consultants. “How can one expect the A&E to deliver the service needed when demand on A&E is forever escalating.”

Dr Velmurugan to spoke out after his patient, Pearl Col, had a fall in her bathroom and broke part of her back. The 77-year-old suffered the serious injury and went to A&E with her sister, but after waiting more than six hours she had had enough and was taken back home.

The pain never went away so she visited Dr Velmurugan at his surgery in Westborough Road, Westcliff, who sent her to A&E with a referral letter.

Despite the letter, she spent another eight hours waiting in A&Em arriving at 6pm and leaving at 2am.

An X-ray revealed she had a broken vertebrae and she was referred to an orthopaedic surgeon.

She said: “I went up there with my sister the first time and we sat there for ages. “I wouldn’t go back. It was a diabolical service.”

The boss of Southend Hospital’s A&E accepted the department was under a lot of pressure - but wouldn’t comment on the shortage of consultants. The hospital was also asked to clarify why temporary managers were paid such high rates.

But Claire Gowland, general manager for emergency care, wasn’t keen to talk about the managers who are paid up to £1,100 a day to marshall an understaffed department.

Ms Gowland did say: “Some patients have unfortunately had to wait longer than we would have wished to be assessed and treated.

“It was because we recognised these challenges that we invited the NHS National Intensive Support team to come into the hospital earlier this year to identify areas where there was scope to make our procedures more efficient yet still clinically appropriate.

“Following this visit, we recruited an interim chief operating officer to focus on performance and patient flow across the whole hospital.

“We are pleased that our performance against the four-hour wait in our A&E department exceeded the 95 per cent target in July.”

Responding to Mrs Cole’s ordeal in the department, Ms Gowland said: “We are naturally sorry that Mrs Cole was dissatisfied with the treatment she received at our hospital and would willingly investigate her concerns fully if she would like to make contact with our patient experience lead.”