AN MP has called on the chairman and management at Southend Hospital to be sacked over its handling of finances and the departure of its chief executive.

David Amess, Tory MP for Southend West, spoke out during a parliamentary debate as the hospital faces a £7.8million black hole by the end of 2014/15 after a botched savings plan.

The Echo can also reveal the troubled hospital spent £1.8million on agency staff in just one month – October – the most it has ever spent on temps in a month.

The huge spending comes despite the hospital needing to save £20million next year and has led Mr Amess to question the leadership of chairman Alan Tobias, among others, particularly as former chief executive Jacqueline Totterdill was given a £25,000 pay rise despite presiding over a year of underperformance, before leaving.

Mr Amess said: “I praise all the doctors, nurses and ancillary staff, however, I am appalled by the management standards.

“I want to know where the governance from the chairman has been. I want the chairman of Southend Hospital to be replaced and I want a new management structure introduced.”

Mr Amess claims he has requested a meeting with health watchdog Monitor, but it hasn’t materialised.

The hospital blamed the huge spend on agency staff inOctober on having nursing vacancies on every ward, including A&E, which is only at 88 per cent capacity during night shifts.

The hospital has hired consultants to try to find ways to save money. However, that has also drawn criticism after the Echo revealed one consultant had been paid £12,500 for just eight days work, with the hospital refusing to reveal full details of the contract, which lasts until March.

Alan Crystall, a hospital governor and retired dental surgeon, said: “It is wrong of an MP to criticise the management structure of a hospital when he’s not involved in it. It’s like running a small town.

“There aren’t enough nurses coming through and that’s because Mr Amess’ fellow Parliamentarians in the Fiftiess closed down the teaching schools and merged them.

“Now the birds have come home to roost and it’s a problem made by a short-term thinking Government.”

Chairman refuses to resign

THE chairman of Southend Hospital has said he will not resign.

But he says the hospital’s management will be changing and led up by people with backgrounds in medicine from January.

Mr Tobias has given his backing to Sue Hardy, who has been installed as interim chief executive after the exit of Jacqueline Totterdell.

He said: “Mr Amess is entitled to his opinion. I invite him to meet to discuss his concerns.

“Our management structure will be changing to an even more clinically led focus. From January each directorate will be headed up by a director with a clinical background supported by a senior nurse and senior manager.”

The hospital’s head of finance James O’Sullivan has admitted the £1.8million outlay on temporary staff in October was the hospital’s highest, but that was reduced by £500,000 the following month.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “Vacancies arise because of the difficulties in recruitment to a number of roles including nurses and some medical specialities.

“This summer we were able to recruit more than 50 nurses from Spain.”

GOVERNORS GET £780K

THE hospital’s chairman, Alan Tobias joined in 2011 to work with the hospital’s board of governors, after spending 16 years as the London boroughs’ chief executive, and six years as chairman of the Essex Probation Service.

According to the hospital’s latest accounts, he was paid between £45,000 and £50,000 in 2013/14.

Sue Hardy is the hospital’s acting chief executive, having joined in 2011 from Northampton General Hospital.

In Northamptonshire, she was director of nursing, midwifery and patient services.

She was paid between £120,000 and £125,000 in her role as head nurse and deputy chief executive in 2013/14, but the hospital has not confirmed whether she will get the post fulltime.

In total, the board of governors at the hospital were paid around £780,000 between them last year.